JOIN USThe Bengaluru Urban district administration has restored seven acres and 20 guntas of prime government land belonging to Bangalore Development Authority (BDA).
The Janaadhikaara Sangharsha Parishat (JSP) had filed a complaint with the Upalokayukta against the officials of BDA and Revenue department, including Assistant Commissioner (AC) L C Nagaraj, for illegally transferring 10 acres and four guntas of BDA land to four private persons in Doddathogur village, Begur. The land in question is at survey number 105 of Doddathogur village in Bengaluru South taluk.
The complaint was filed with the Upalokayukta and ADGP, Lokayukta on January 30. It said that the land had been allotted to private persons from 2010 to 2016. These private persons are ‘benami’ for realtors and politicians, the complaint said.
“We had approached Upalokayukta Justice N Ananda with this complaint. The Upalokayukta spoke to the DC of Bengaluru Urban V Shankar over the phone and instructed him to ensure restoration of the government land. On February 6, 2015, seven acres and 20 guntas of BDA land has been restored,” Adarsh R Iyer of JSP said.
Out of 10 acres and four guntas, seven acres and 20 guntas has been transferred back to the BDA through an order by the AC.
“The reversal of his own order does not absolve the AC of his attempt to rob government land by illegally transferring it to private persons. We have filed another application with the ADGP, Lokayukta, seeking action against the AC. As far as the remaining two acres and 24 guntas are concerned, a number of sites have been registered. The revenue officials must ensure that this land also is restored to the government. All these sites have been registered through a GPA holder by name R Prabhakar Reddy, who has given subsequent GPA to a person by name K S Vinod Kumar,” Iyer said.
Land meant for poor
The complaint filed by the JSP said that, in 2007, gomala land was transferred to the BDA for building houses for the poor displaced during eviction drives on several government lands in the past 10 years.
The first allotment of this land to a private person happened in 2010, when Ramanjaneya was the Special Deputy Commissioner.
Subsequently, two acres and 24 guntas was transferred to one Annayyappa, four acres was allotted to Mariyappa, one acre and 20 guntas to K D Changappa and two acres to Gangappa, till 2016. As a result, only 18 guntas was left in the name of BDA.