Alleging that the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials are hand-in-glove with land grabbers, Yediyur councillor N.R. Ramesh has charged them with failure to take action against violation of the lease conditions by the Karnataka State Football Association.
Speaking at the BBMP council recently, he pointed out that the officials had issued khata to the alleged encroachers and were collecting property tax from them.
The association is on a property worth over Rs. 375 crore, while the land encroached is worth around Rs. 80 crore, he said.
The land was given by the BBMP in 1975 on a lease of Rs. 1,000 annually for 99 years. The lease conditions were being violated and the association subleased the land to a private builder.
“Of the 1.86 lakh sq ft, the private builder has constructed complexes on around 93,050 sq ft. Khata have been issued.”
Several buildings have come up on the land, including a fashion designing college. There was a dhobi ghat and some space was used for parking.
Demanding that the lease be terminated, Mr. Ramesh said that this warranted an investigation by either the Lokayukta or the Criminal Investigation Department. He wanted disciplinary action against the officials who had given the khata to the alleged encroachers.
Responding to the allegations, Commissioner Rajneesh Goel said that the lease agreement would be cancelled. Mayor D. Venkatesh Murthy directed him to verify all documents submitted by Mr. Ramesh and instruct the officials to table a detailed report in the next council meeting.
Renaming road
Shanthinagar MLA N.A. Haris urged Mr. Venkatesh Murthy to rename Indiranagar 100 ft Road after folklorist and freedom fighter S.K. Karim Khan. He said that though the civic body had taken a decision to rename the road in 2006 and even passed an order, the road had not yet been renamed. “Is the BBMP dilly-dallying because Mr. Khan was a Muslim?” he asked.
Several BJP councillors objected to this and claimed that the MLA was raising the issue as a “political gimmick”. Both the Congress and the BJP traded charges until Mr. Venkatesh Murthy intervened saying he would soon announce a date to rename the road after Karim Khan.
