BDA officials in trouble for changing land use of waterbody

A group of RTI activists have demanded the suspension of officials who altered the land use of a waterbody in Doddabettahalli village in Yelahanka.

On May 17, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) issued a notification seeking objections from the public to a request for changing the land use of a plot measuring four acres and two guntas in survey numbers 1 and 56 from waterbody to residential.

In a tweet, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai asked the BDA to take suitable action against officers who published the notification. Following his tweet, the BDA withdrew the notification on May 19 but took no action on the officers concerned.

The RTI activists belonging to the Mahithi Hakku Adhyayana Kendra said the notification was issued with the motive of helping a private firm by corrupt means.

The group said BDA’s town planning member Dhananjaya Reddy, additional director K N Narayana Gowda and joint director Hanumantha Reddy are responsible for the irregularity.

“The three officers have been working in BDA’s town planning department for more than 15 years now. It is strange that two officers are closely related and are financially and politically powerful,” the group said in a letter marked to senior officers in the government.

"How can a government continue the services of a few selected officers in the BDA, particularly in the town planning department, for more than 15 years against its own deputation policy? Are they so indispensable to the organisation? We request you to initiate appropriate disciplinary action against all officers," said H B Veeresha, a trustee of the kendra.