Cabinet okays change in land use

The State Cabinet on Thursday decided to withdraw a 2006-notification which disallowed
conversion of agricultural land for residential and commercial activities in the towns of Sathanur in Kanakapura taluk, Ramanagara, Solur in Magadi taluk and Nandagudi in Hoskote taluk.

Conversion of agriculture land and development of private layouts had been stopped in these places, following a proposal to develop the towns as integrated satellite townships around Bangalore, by the JD(S)-BJP coalition government in 2006.

Thursday’s Cabinet decision will now pave way for residents of these towns to apply for change of land use with the Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA), which has been directed to take up the applications on a case-by-case basis.

The move will allow builders to seek sanction for developing private layouts in these towns paving way for a probable real estate boom.

Final nail

The decision, also in effect means that, it is the final nail in the coffin for the integrated satellite township project, which has been languishing in the cold storage for the last five years. Briefing reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Law Minister Suresh Kumar said that there had been a pressing demand by the residents of these towns to withdraw the ban on change of land use.

The ban will continue in Bidadi, which was also part of the integrated township project. The Bidadi integrated township did make a start, with the project initially awarded to the Delhi-based real estate major DLF, during H D Kumaraswamy’s tenure as the Chief Minister in 2007.

It, however, could not make any headway due to political instability in the State and subsequent global economic meltdown. The project developer, as a result, backed out of the deal. The BMRDA had recently floated fresh tenders for the project.

Each satellite township was proposed to be self-contained and spread across 5,000 to 15,000 acres.

The townships were proposed to decongest Bangalore forming a ring around the State capital, beyond the Peripheral Ring Road.

There was also a proposal to connect these townships by a  280-km Satellite Ring Road. The project was conceptualised, in some circles, as a rival to the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE).