The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : 150 acres of land near Bangalore up for grabs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Aug 24, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

150 acres of land near Bangalore up for grabs

Bangalore Bureau

53.22 acres of land around the State capital to be auctioned in the first instalment on August 27

Auction will also be held on August 29 and September 5
The move has evoked sharp criticism

— A FILE Photo: K.Murali Kumar

ON RECOVERY TRAIL: A.T. Ramaswamy (right), Chairman of the Joint Legislature Committee, and G.V. Sriram Reddy at an illegal quarry near Savandurga, near Bangalore.

BANGALORE: The State Government has revived the controversial auction of government land around Bangalore city with the Bangalore Urban District Deputy Commissioner initiating the process. Nearly 53.22 acres of land around Bangalore is proposed to be auctioned on August 27. In addition to this, the Government also plans to auction more land on August 29 and September 5. About 150 acres of land will be auctioned on all the three days.

The land scheduled for auction on August 27 includes residential land of 23.07 acres and agricultural land of 21.11 acres. Besides, 2.07 acres of land coming under Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Planning Authority, and 3.37 acres of land coming under Anekal Planning Authority is to be auctioned.

According to the schedule of land put out by the Government on August 7 inviting bidders to take part in the auction process, the size of the land proposed for auctioning varies from a minimum of 0.05 acres to a maximum of 4.22 acres. Some of the plots proposed for auctioning are as close as 12 to 15 km from the Vidhana Soudha at Byatarayanapura in Yelahanka hobli where the land value is high.

The Government has proposed in its budget to set up “Karnataka Public Lands Corporation” to raise resources for development of infrastructure through the sale or lease of valuable government land. It has planned to mobilise about Rs. 3,000 crore through sale of land in and around Bangalore in 2008-09.

According to official sources, the Government is preparing to auction 5,000 acres of land in and around Bangalore from August 27 to March next year. It hopes to realise Rs. 3,000 crore target fixed by the Chief Minister in the budget. As many as 447 acres of land cleared from encroachments was auctioned during the regime of the previous government.

The auction of land under the previous government was criticised by many political parties and citizens groups. They argued that the auction process allowed the encroachers from whom the land had been seized to legally enter the real estate sector in Bangalore.

The present auction has been criticised by a group of eight like-minded parties and organisations, that include the Left parties, the Dalit Sangharsha Samithi, and others.

They have threatened to forcibly stop the auction with the help of 2,000 activists if the Government did not put an end to the auction process.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) Bangalore District secretary Prakash K. told The Hindu that instead of auctioning the land the Government could use it for providing housing facilities for the poor and other public utility services.

He alleged that the BJP Government had plans to auction nearly 100 acres of land per week in the coming days and it was expected to go on for the next 32 weeks.

A.T. Ramaswamy, who had headed a House Committee that detected thousands of acres of encroached government land, told The Hindu: “It is not proper to go ahead with the auctioning of government land before evolving a master plan on its future use.

Instead of selling the land to commercial developers, the Government could make it available to the Bangalore Development Authority and Karnataka State Slum Development Board.”

The villages where the land is proposed to be auctioned on August 27 include Doddabetthalli, Byatarayanapura and Jakkur in Yelahanka hobli, Tarabanahalli, Sadenahalli and Addiganahalli in Hessaraghatta hobli, Kuduregere in Jala hobli (all in Bangalore North (Additional) taluk), Doddakannalli in Varthur (Bangalore East taluk), Kodlipura in Attibele in Anekal taluk, Uttarahalli and Kengeri hoblis of Bangalore South Taluk. These lands have 16 survey numbers in the revenue documents.

The bidders have to register themselves with the Assistant Commissioner (Enforcement Cell), Prevention of Unauthorised Construction, in Bangalore on or before August 26. They have to deposit Rs. 10 lakh an acre through demand draft as advance before participating in the auction and obtain identify card.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka