Bid to take over BMP land foiled

By B. S. Ramesh

BANGALORE, JUNE 28. A sinister plan by land sharks to surreptitiously take over prime land worth crores of rupees in Vasanthnagar here has been foiled by the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF).

Vast stretches of land in the Millers's tank bed area (in front of the office of the Food and Civil Supplies Corporation) had been encroached upon by nearly 30 individuals. Though the BMP had breached the tank long ago and parcelled out sites to individuals and organisations, it had retained nearly 2.6 acres.

But the BMP land had not been fenced and encroachments and illegal structures had come up around the ground. Investigations by TheHindu revealed that at least 15 individuals had managed to obtain kathas of the land they had encroached upon.

Besides, 15 others had managed to get the land they had encroached upon surveyed by the City Survey Department and obtained certificates stating that they owned the land. In both these cases, some officials reportedly neglected their duties or connived with the illegal occupants in fabricating documents. The market value of the encroached land is nearly Rs. 6 crores.Interestingly, the original files showing the BMP's ownership of the land and the total extent of the land had been missing for the past three years. Several records from the duplicate file too are reportedly missing.

The fabrication of documents came to light when the BMTF called for files regarding the Miller's Tank-bed area. However, the BMP officials failed to provide the file for years and it was only three days ago that they approached the BMTF seeking its help in reclaiming the land.

The High Court too had ruled in BMP's favour and declared that it could take back the land if it was found to have been encroached upon. A physical inspection of the tank bed on Monday and Tuesday indicated that encroachments had taken place and attempts were being made to illegally occupy the remaining BMP land.

A BMP official said a deal had been struck by a private party to sell the BMP land for Rs. 5 crores and an advance of Rs. 50 lakhs had already been collected when the BMP officials began marking and fencing off the property.

However, the BMP was in a quandary when the encroachers furnished kathas stating that the land belonged to them. While some BMP officials, including the legal advisor, advocated reclamation of the land, the BMTF counselled patience and asked the BMP to hold public hearings under Rule 114 A of the Karnataka Municipal Corporation (KMC) Act. After the hearings, the BMP could take steps to revoke the kathas.

As far as the survey documents were concerned, the BMTF Inspector-General of Police, Mr. D. N. Munikrishna, said the BMP could revoke the ownership certificates as the BMP had not been made a party during the survey. He said he had instructed the officials to fence 1.1 acres of the BMP land and put up a board stating that the land belonged to the BMP. There was prima facie evidence indicating the fabrication of land records as well as the connivance of some BMP officials, he said.

He said the Miller's Tank bed was not the only area where encroachments had come up. Surveys of 12 tanks, including Kempapura Agrahara, Singasandra, Halagevoderahalli, Kamakshipalya, T. Dasarahalli, Arakere, Dodda Bommasandra, Munikolalu, A. Dasarahalli, Chinnapanahalli and Itamadavy would be taken up shortly.

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