BDA wants home dept to arm task force with police power

Soon, city residents will see a very different BDA task force, the one with greater powers and functioning just like the police force.

The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) officials have written to the home department about assigning more power for its task force. The department, in turn, has asked the DC office to pursue the matter.

BDA officials said the idea came after the mega scam involving the fraudulent sale of more than 100 sites in Kengeri surfaced in May.

Despite having its own task force, the BDA could only register a case with the jurisdictional police rather than taking strong action. With powers equal to the police, the task force could have investigated the case and registered FIRs against the offenders.

“If the proposal (with the home department) is approved, we’ll have a separate police station for our task force in the BDA that could perform the job of the police like investigation and booking the offenders,” BDA Commissioner Manjula N told DH, confirming the move.

BDA officials said the task force is toothless in its existing form, doing similar things as a common man. Upgrading it to a police station would make it strong enough to handle several cases. “People would find a platform to air their grievances. The separate police station would be a nightmare for land grabbers,” said an official.