Shivaram Karanth Layout: BDA to drone survey site

In line with the Supreme Court order, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) is set to start the necessary civic work for the formation of Dr Shivaram Karanth Layout.

The layout will come up in the same place as fixed earlier.

As many private residential layouts and other establishments have mushroomed in the said location, the BDA has left it to the state government to decide about the same.

Firstly, the BDA will conduct a drone survey of the said land and identify the number of existing properties. According to BDA officials, it is ultimately the state government which will decide on the properties on denotified land.

“The drone survey will happen shortly. We will be submitting the report on the existing properties to the government. The government will take a call thereafter. The number of vacant places can be identified with the survey as well,” BDA commissioner Dr N Manjula told DH.

Following the August 2018 order of the apex court, the BDA had issued the final notification to the landowners in November 2018.

“Considering the court’s order and the fact that the land is denotified, we have to go ahead with the formation of the layout. The awards for the landowners have been announced and a few of them have agreed to it,” said a senior official.

The land acquisition problem can be traced back to 2008 when the BDA issued a preliminary notification for 3,546 acres in 17 villages between Hesarghatta and Doddaballapur Road in north Bengaluru. The project did not take off as the civic body received thousands of objections from the landowners. A few had approached the high court against the move. In 2015, the high court quashed the acquisition notification, which the BDA challenged in the apex court.

In 2018, the SC directed the BDA to issue the final notification and go ahead with formation of the layout in three months. The landowners then filed a review petition, which was also quashed by the apex court.