The Hassan Urban Development Authority Chairman, Annappa, has said that the recent court order on compensation for forming layouts will benefit the land losers. “They would get over 9,000 sq. ft per acre of land acquired as compensation. Going by a conservative estimation of Rs. 500 per sq. ft, land losers would get developed land valued at Rs. 45 lakh against one acre. As the land prices go up, the value will also go up”, he said.
He said the time has come for HUDA to clear its loans borrowed to acquire the land in 2002. The outstanding due at Vijaya Bank is over Rs. 15 crore. “If the land losers return the compensation, it would help us to clear the loan and begin the process to develop the layout”, he said.
The Authority has worked out a detail project report. The S.M. Krishna Nagar layout is spread over 453 acres in Sankenahalli and other areas. As per the DPR, it could accommodate 5,210 sites. Following the court’s order the authority has to revise the DPR considering the compensation package for the land losers. “With all this process, I am hopeful of issuing a notification to invite applications for site allotment by the end of January 2013”, the chairman said.
The outlook
This development has rekindled hopes of owning a site among many residents of Hassan. With at least a few hundred sites available for the needy, the real estate boom is expected to come down with dip in land prices.
M. Rajanna, a small time businessman residing in a rented house in Kuvempu Nagar, said that for two decades he had been staying in Hassan and he was eligible for applying for a HUDA site. However, all these years he could not afford to it. “Now, with a little savings I can purchase one. I hope I get one in S.M. Krishna Nagar layout”, he said. The price in the layout is expected to be around Rs. 450 per sq. ft. Compared to prevailing prices in private layouts, this would be affordable to many people.
Optimistic
Besides this, the HUDA is hoping that the district administration would allow alienation of plots measuring less than one acre for residential layouts. Recently HUDA convened a meeting to place this demand before the district administration.
Deputy Commissioner K.P. Mohan Raj, in a press release, had stated that the HUDA’s resolution had come in the way of accepting applications for alienation. HUDA contended that it never adopted such a resolution and the DC was creating confusion. However, it agreed to withdraw the resolution, which had become the reason for the DC to stop alienation. “Now there is no hurdle to process applications for alienation”, the HUDA Chairman had said.
If alienation of land is also allowed, the number of sites available for buyers will be sufficient enough to bring down the prices.
Sathish G.T.
