Bengaluru business corridor: Landowners decry two decades of restrictions, low compensation
BENGALURU: For almost 20 years, landowners along the proposed Bengaluru Business Corridor (BBC), who were notified by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) for the 73-km phase of the project, have faced restrictions on selling, developing, or even transferring property, eroding their economic potential. With their land under notification, owners said they missed countless opportunities to develop their land. Munegowda, a farmer from Kadugodi, whose family owns nearly an acre in the project area, said, Since our land was notified, the pahani (land record) is marked in their name. We cant sell it for needs like education or weddings, and I cant even transfer it to anyone. He urged the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) to offer compensation at market value or, at the very least, match the rate paid for Metro land acquisitions. He pointed out that in the governments sub-registrar office, the guidance value for land in the area last year was much higher, but suddenly it has been reduced to Rs 2.25 crore this year. Now, BDA says they will pay Rs 2.25 crore per acre. How can prime land near Whitefield Metro Station and railway station lose its guidance value in a year? he asked. Jagadish Reddy, whose land has been under notification since the 2005 preliminary acquisition of 1,860 acres for Phase 1 of PRR, called it a human rights issue. For 20 years, we could do nothing. The location around us has developed, and we could have developed too. We would have given our land to developers and, with zero investment, at least received 40% of the market value, which comes to about Rs 45 crore, from the developers, he said. M Nagaraj, whose 33 guntas of two acres in Varthur were notified, said, For nearly two decades, due to the notification, I have not been able to get loans or construct anything on my land. I have been suffering for so long now; they should either denotify or give us the right compensation.
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