The Hindu : Karnataka News : Absence of access road bugs South City project residents

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Sunday, Jun 05, 2011
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Absence of access road bugs South City project residents

Special Correspondent

They have to negotiate narrow lanes to reach their residences

‘The BDA had agreed to a proposal for laying
of a road'
L&T has been stalling the proposal under one pretext or other: association president

Road denied:An aerial view of the South City Group Housing project which is literally ‘landlocked'.

BANGALORE: Hundreds of apartment owners in South City Group Housing scheme off Bannerghatta Road in the city are up in arms against its reputed builders for not only giving them a “raw deal” in the undivided share of land they are entitled to, but also leaving them high and dry without providing appropriate road connectivity to the “landlocked” project.

Thousands of residents, who live in the South City project that spreads across 34 acres of land with 1,800 apartments in 16 towers, are making do with narrow lanes passing through the neighbouring layouts to reach their apartments in the absence of the promised link to 24t {+h} Main of JP Nagar.

Association formed

The aggrieved apartment owners, who have now formed South City Group Housing Apartment Owners' Association (SUGRUHA), have been knocking on the doors of authorities, including the Lokayukta for redressal of their grievances.

SUGRUHA president Abraham Kuruvilla told The Hindu that the South City residents have to brave abuses hurled by residents of the neighbouring localities whenever their vehicles pass through the narrow lanes. “Due to the absence of the promised link to 24th Main of JP Nagar, the vehicular flow from and towards South City has made the narrow roads in the surrounding localities traffic-dense, heightening social tensions,” he said.

The developers — Larsen & Toubro's ECC Construction Division — have come under fire from the apartment owners for not keeping their promise to provide the necessary connectivity to the project.

“If the connectivity is to happen, someone has to sanction an encroachment of the bed of the adjoining lake that is now being revived,” said Mr. Kuruvilla.

Although the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) had agreed to a proposal for laying of a road along the northern perimeter of South City to resolve the shortcoming, L&T had been stalling the proposal under one pretext or other for the last 18 months, he said.

Entitlement

With regard to undivided share of the 34 acres the apartment owners are entitled to, Mr. Kuruvilla said the builder had concealed to the purchasers that the landowner, Dinesh Ranka, had relinquished about 12 acres of the area to the BDA to get the project approved.

“All sale deeds executed to this day clearly convey a certain percentage of the entire 34 acres as undivided share of the apartment owners,” he lamented.

L&T unavailable

Efforts by The Hindu over several days to contact officials from L&T for a response did not yield any result.

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