The auctioning of recovered government land in and around Bangalore — which the state government is continuing despite strong objections from several quarters — has all the makings of a scam. With reports of the bidders forming an informal cartel, it was not surprising that none of the 10 blocks of land put up for sale on Saturday fetched the desired prices. A 10.4 acre plot in Avarehalli village which was expected to yield Rs 10 crore, went for a paltry Rs 10 lakh. Similarly, a 13.2 acre plot in Gopalapura village for which the government quoted Rs 13 crore, fetched a mere Rs 60 lakh. Of all the auctions held so far, only about 30 per cent of land has fetched a decent price and it should be a matter of serious concern for the government.

The chairman of the legislature committee on land encroachments, Mr A T Ramaswamy, whose committee was largely responsible for identification and subsequent confiscation of these lands, has himself expressed serious reservations about the auctioning process, besides several other former bureaucrats and city planners. Citizens organisations led by the CPM have also organised protests in front of the deputy commissioner’s office demanding that the land be returned to the farmers rather than being sold to the highest bidders, who are acting as frontmen for land developers. It is surprising that JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda, who raised a hue and cry about farmers being deprived of their land during the formation of the Arkavathy Layout when Dharam Singh was the chief minister and wrote reams of letters to Mr Singh on how companies like Infosys had turned “land grabbers”, is quiet on this issue.

As former commissioner of BDA Jayakar Jerome has suggested, the government should consider treating the recovered land as capital asset which can be used later for raising funds for development projects. The agricultural land around Bangalore is like a goldmine which should not be frittered away for small gain. Besides, the government should have a long term plan for using them as land fills or community assets when habitations come up in these areas. Meanwhile, the Kumaraswamy government should immediately stop the auctioning process and cancel all those which yielded poor returns within the time frame available, so that its actions remain above board.