BANGALORE: The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC) Limited has proposed a broad-based compensation package to rehabilitate about 1,500 families, including owners of commercial establishments, whose property is to be acquired for the construction of the Metro.

Sources in the BMRC said the company hopes to compensate for the loss of assets, livelihood and common resources such as schools, hospitals and religious places, by providing allowances for the inconvenience caused, transition, shifting, re-establishment of business premises, besides giving them the right to salvage material totally.

In addition, it has sought three concessions from the State Government — to declare the land use in the Metro corridor as commercial; to increase the floor area ratio to provide for vertical growth of buildings and to change the land use from residential to commercial; and to provide transfer of Development Rights (TDR). Under this, certificates will be issued to the owners to carry out vertical expansion of the part of the property that is not acquired. The certificates can be sold to anyone, including builders. The Government will have to amend the Town and Country Planning Act to provide for this.

The BMRC is acquiring over 550 pieces of private and public property measuring a little over 1 lakh sq mt. This includes over 380 pieces of commercial and over 170 pieces of residential property and seven places of worship. In addition to this, it is acquiring over eight lakh sq mt of property belonging to the government, Defence and public sector companies.

Rehabilitation package

The rehabilitation package is based on the principle that the affected persons should be enabled to replace the assets lost, receive for a short while (until they had the time to resettle) an economic assistance and meet the extent of costs they would incur in shifting residences and commercial establishments.

The compensation can be availed in two ways — using the award/compensation made unilaterally by the land acquisition officer acting under the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board Act, 1966. The owner may, alternatively, go for the second option known as consent award. Though the BMRC realises that it is difficult to mitigate disruption in social life, it has zeroed in on assessing it on certain rates. It has fixed the inconvenience allowance rate at Rs. 30,000 as one-time payment for those losing entire residential structure and Rs. 24,000 where only a part is acquired, according to the sources. This is to compensate for inconvenience in finding new gas connection, telephone connection, ration cards, new schools, and colleges and arranging conveyance.

Transition allowance

Transition allowance will be paid on the basis of the area lost. This amount is to compensate for the loss of rental revenue and rent deposit. An independent committee, headed by retired IAS officer P.S.S. Thomas, has been constituted to fix the market values of the property to be acquired.

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