Ruthless action on illegal occupation

By S. Rajendran

BANGALORE, FEB. 28. In the run- up to restoring the original beauty of Bangalore, if not working to the call given by the Chief Minister, Mr. S. M. Krishna, to upgrade Bangalore to the civic standards in Singapore, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has been given a tight schedule to ensure orderly growth.

The BDA has already indicated that it is on the right track, and distribution of around 10,000 sites in the current calendar year, an assurance given by the Chief Minister, would be fulfilled.

The BDA now lags far behind the Madras Metropolitan Development Authority leave alone the Delhi Development Authority. The BDA (constituted in 1976), which is a successor to the City Improvement Trust Board of the Second World War days, was in the lead in the country in ensuring an orderly growth of the City till the Eighties. The slump in the last 10 years has made it one of the poorly run civic agencies, and last year there was a run on the organisation with the applicants for sites seeking a refund and the then Government even contemplating to wind up the mammoth organisation.

The BDA is now on a demolition drive-unauthorised structures and illegal occupation are being ruthlessly removed. And positive results of the BDA's new tactics have already started pouring in. The view is that there is no other way to change the face of Bangalore. With the cooperation of the Bangalore Mahanagar Palike, the BDA is confident that it will not let down the directions of the State Government. The reducing number of registrations of unauthorised sites (in revenue layouts) is also an indication of the people's response to the resurgence of the BDA. The BDA Commissioner, Mr. Jayakar Jerome, whose earlier stint was at the Karnataka Housing Board, told TheHindu here today that the demolition drive was largely to enable the BDA to take possession of its precious land in the core of the City. In under three months since this operation was launched, the BDA has acquired around 40 acres of land. The value of the land has been estimated at around Rs. 250 crores. It will enable the BDA to form 1000 sites.

Hitherto there was not much information in the BDA itself on the quantum of its lands that had been encroached. A survey has now been launched to identify all the encroachments.The BDA's action has also resulted in a bonanza of sorts to the fresh applicants for sites. They will be successful in obtaining a site in the existing residential extensions which have already a reputation in the real estate market. For instance, the BDA is now in the process of distributing sites in Jayanagar T Block where around 15 acres of its land was encroached. The Jayanagar residential locality is over 40 years old. The corner sites and the commercial properties in this area will, however, be auctioned.

Meanwhile, the outer-ring road around Bangalore will also be completed on schedule. The Government has promised that the road will be ready by June. The 51-km road will link Tumkur Road with Hosur Road. Barring three important bridges - an underpass at Varthur, a road underbridge at Doddanakundi and a road overbridge at Lottegollahalli - large sections of the outer ring road are nearing completion.Despite facing extinction only sometime ago, the BDA has come back to the centrestage and is already healthy in terms of finance, if not flush with funds.

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Section  : Regional
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