The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Landowners to be given developed sites by BDA

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 15, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Landowners to be given developed sites by BDA

Staff Reporter

The board of directors recently approved a policy in this regard

BANGALORE: In a move that will bring cheer to farmers, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has decided to hand over developed sites to landowners instead of paying them compensation.

A policy in this regard was recently approved by the BDA's board of directors. As per the new acquisition policy, farmers and landowners will get 10,000 sq ft of land for every acre acquired by BDA.

BDA officials say that the new acquisition policy is based on the Ahmedabad land acquisition policy and is aimed at bringing down litigation. "In Ahmedabad there are hardly any land litigation. This system has worked very well," says a BDA official. For every acre (43,365 sq ft) that the BDA acquires, it gets only 20,000 sq ft for development of residential sites. The rest is reserved for open spaces, parks and roads.

According to the new policy, the farmers will get 10,000 sq ft of developed sites. "The sites may not all be in one place but it will definitely be in the same area," according to the official.

For farmers, the new land acquisition policy is favourable as in one acre they can develop four 40 X 60 sites. When sold, these sites will also fetch them a lot of money.

At present, compensation is paid as per the sub-registrar's guidance value, which the farmers claim is at least 40 per cent less than the market value. In fact, the poor compensation was a major issue among farmers whose lands were acquired for the Arkavathy layout project.

The BDA is involved in litigation with regard to the compensation. The maximum compensation awarded by the BDA was around Rs. 25 lakh an acre while the market rate was around Rs. 45 lakh.

Under the old scheme, farmers who gave up their land voluntarily were also given a compensatory site for 25 per cent of the cost apart from the compensation amount.

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