A cash-strapped BDA is spearheading a revenue mobilisation drive to fund the steel flyover and Peripheral Ring Road (PRR).
BDA has revived a proposal to regularise over 3,600 acres of encroachments on land notified by BDA in 68 layouts.
It expects to raise over Rs. 5,000 crore by collecting a betterment fee for regularisation, enough to fund the steel flyover and pay compensation for acquiring 1,920 acres for PRR.
The proposal was made by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the run up to the civic polls in June 2015.
However, it was put on the back-burner after legal experts raised concerns that it effectively amounts to denotifying land.
The Chief Minister has been facing flak over denotification in Arkavathy Layout.
BDA officials are working overtime to complete an on-ground survey to finalise the list of the properties in two months.
The list and the proposal with the betterment fee to be levied will be submitted for approval to the State cabinet.
Sources told The Hindu that the betterment fee would be a per cent of the guidance value of land in the area.
Sources said that it could be anywhere between Rs. 250 and Rs. 500 a square feet.
These 3,699 acres were notified by the BDA, but the authority never managed to take possession for various reasons like landlords challenging the acquisition in court or the area developing even before the land was notified.
Today, most of these areas are well-developed. But the people who have been in possession of these lands for more than two decades do not have title deeds.
Many have moved court seeking title deeds. A BDA estimate puts the number of plots or properties in these layouts at over 66,000.
When Chief Minister Siddaramaiah came up with this proposal, he termed it a ‘win-win’ situation for both the public and BDA.
“There are only two options here. Either we evict them or regularise them. It is a question of more than 60,000 households. We have decided to regularise these possessions with a fee that is presently being worked out. This will ensure revenue of a few thousand crores to BDA and also solve the issue for these people,” the chief minister had told presspersons in June 2015.
