Panel to probe into land allotment: Sorake

A man making an appeal to Minister for Urban Development Vinay Kumar Sorake during his visit to Shimoga on Thursday. Photo: Vaidya

Minister for Urban Development Vinay Kumar Sorake has said that the government was contemplating making it mandatory for private real estate firms to reserve 30 per cent of the sites they develop in residential layouts in urban areas for poor families.

As most of the land in urban areas were purchased by private real estate firms, the government was facing paucity of land to provide sites for poor families under various housing schemes.

To address this problem, the government was contemplating to enact a law to make it mandatory for private real estate firms to reserve 30 per cent of the sites for poor families, Mr. Sorake told presspersons here on Thursday.

Firms involved in construction of apartments would also be brought under the purview of this law. Such firms would be asked to reserve 30 per cent of flats in the apartment complex or provide sites at an alternative place for the poor, he said.

According to the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976, the term of the elected members of city municipal councils upgraded into City Corporations will end six months after the date of upgradation, following which fresh elections should be held.

The elected members of city municipal councils of Tumkur, Shimoga and Bijapur, which were upgraded into city corporations recently, had requested the government to allow them to work for the full term of five years. The government would amend the Act to enhance the term, Mr. Sorake said.

Committee formed

A committee headed by retired judge H.B. Ravindranath has been formed to probe into the alleged irregularities in allotment of sites in Atal Behari Vajpayee Layout developed by the Shimoga Urban Development Authority (SUDA), Minister for Urban Development Vinay Kumar Sorake has said. The committee will submit its report in three months. If the allegations of irregularities are proved, stern action will be taken against the erring persons, he said.

The layout has 1,801 sites of which 142 were allotted under the discretionary quota of the Chairman of SUDA. Under the existing laws, there was no provision for allotment of sites under discretionary quota.

There were allegations of influential persons getting the sites allotted to their name by furnishing false affidavits. The committee would probe into these allegations, Mr. Sorake said.