Land scam near Bannerghatta

Bangalore Urban Zilla Panchayat president Bhagya Rajashekhar Reddy filed the complaint on the alleged land deal with the Task Force headed by V Balasubramanian. She has also filed documents supporting her allegation.

Former Bannerghatta Gram Panchayat president Jayaram developed a layout in government land in Byatarayanadoddi and sold sites of different dimensions. Then Gram Panchayat secretary Shankar is also allegedly involved in the land deal.

Complaint filed

The case has assumed significance as the ZP president has filed the complaint. The land on which the layout has been developed includes forest land belonging to the Bannerghatta National Park.

The A T Ramaswamy Committee, which probed the encroachment of government land in and around Bangalore, noticed the illegal layout development in Bannerghatta GP limits. The Committee directed the Revenue Department and Forest Department to inquire into the matter.

However, there was no progress in the inquiry after the Committee was dissolved. A few members of the GP brought the land deal to the attention of the ZP chief in 2009.

Preliminary inquiry by the Task Force has revealed that Jayaram bought a large extent of land in Byatarayanadoddi, and encroached upon the government land adjacent to his property. He developed three layouts - Atithi, Balaji and Venkateshwara, on the land and sold them.

Probe on

Task Force Chairman V Balasubramanian told Deccan Herald that the probe into the alleged encroachment was on. According to complaints, Jayaram developed layouts in 100 acres of land. According to records available, half of the land belonged to the government. Land in Byatarayanadoddi costs around Rs 2 crore an acre. The total worth of government land encroached upon amounts to Rs 100 crore.

Interestingly, Jayaram, then GP president himself had signed his layout plans. Further, he did not bother to follow the procedure for converting agriculture land for layout formation. The Task Force has decided to visit the area for inspection on Wednesday.

The Task Force has also received complaints regarding irregularities in allotting Ashraya houses in Bannerghatta Gram Panchayat limits when Jayaram was the president.