Bharatiya Janata Party leader V. Somanna has demanded that the State government order a land audit of the Arkavathy Layout in Bengaluru.
He told presspersons here on Friday, “While over 8,000 people in Bengaluru are awaiting residential plots in Arkavathy Layout after completing all mandatory procedures, the area acquired for the layout is getting shrunk thanks to widespread denotification. If the situation continues, no applicant will get a piece of land.”
Mr. Somanna said a land audit would help the people know how much of the originally acquired 1,700 acres was available for building the layout.
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Terming the Arkavathy Layout scam as a tip of the iceberg of denotifications done after the Congress assumed power in the State, the former Housing Minister alleged that the State government had denotified valuable land at will violating the guidelines laid down by the High Court. “In Arkavathy Layout alone, about 122 acres were denotified violating guidelines. The Chief Minister did not even think it fit to bring the issue before the Cabinet,” he added.
Mr. Somanna charged that Mr. Siddaramaiah was blaming the BJP and the Janata Dal (Secular) for the controversy just to cover up his own misdeeds.
Mr. Somanna alleged that the Raichur district administration had failed to curb illegal sand extraction along the riverbeds of the Krishna and the Tungabhadra.
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“Considering the widespread illegal extraction of sand from the Tungabhadra and the Krishna and its transportation to neighbouring States, I feel that the district administration is in sound sleep,” he alleged.