The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : BDA not going to change price of sites

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 27, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

BDA not going to change price of sites

Staff Reporter

The authority lost over Rs. 10 crores due to looting of construction material and razing of structures

BANGALORE: The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) is not going to change the price of any of its sites in Arkavathy Layout despite suffering losses.

It lost over Rs. 10 crores due to looting of construction material and razing of structures in the period immediately after the single Bench order of the High Court and preceding the stay order.

"The loss was caused between April 15 and May 4 when we had no authority to go to the areas. Many structures were razed and material looted," said BDA Commissioner M.N. Vidyashankar.

However, Mr. Vidyashankar said there would be no extra charge to the 20,000 short-listed applicants.

"We will stick by our promise. The prices that we quoted before the single judge order will remain," he said.

The BDA had quoted around Rs. 192 per sq ft for the sites. Each of the 60 X 40 sites would cost Rs. 4.6 lakhs and the 50 X 80 sites Rs. 7.8 lakhs.

Auction

The commissioner said the BDA would raise the Rs. 10 crores by auctioning its corner sites.

"The BDA has always raised money only by this means. We will do the same in Arkavathy Layout," he said.

Over 2.7 lakh people had initially applied for the 20,000 sites in Arkavathy Layout, Mr. Vidyashankar said.

The BDA had collected Rs. 920 crores as initial security deposit but this was later returned to all applicants.

There are 8,000 20 X 30 sites, 6,000 30 X 40 sites, 3,500 60 X 40 sites and 2,500 50 X 80 sites.

Meeting

Mr. Vidyashankar said he held a meeting with the contractors of the 22 packages of Saturday and all of them agreed to start work on the project from Monday. He said that a schedule of work would be ready by Monday.

"We are in the process of analysing the work required for each package," he said.

Civil works

The commissioner said that all civil works such as road laying and site marking would be completed within three months and allotment of sites in lands available to the BDA would be completed within six months.

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