Bengaluru: Land acquisition delay hits roadwork in KG Layout

The Bangalore Development Authority’s (BDA) delay in land acquisition has cut off several sites in the Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout (NPKL) from connecting roads, virtually turning them into islands.

NPKL Site Open Forum’s A S Suryakiran said all the blocks in the layout face connectivity problem.

“The road connectivity is a problem that is common to all the blocks. Many roads end abruptly, forcing us to travel another 500 metres to reach the site,” he said.

He said the land acquisition has not been completed even for the 100-metre-wide main road of the layout, let alone the interior ones.

As a result, road work has been completed in stretches.

Part of the reason for the delay is the opposition from the landowners while at several places the BDA has not finalised the agreement though the owners are ready to sell the land.

“We prepared a detailed report on the pending land acquisition two years ago. However, it is yet to get the approval of the BDA board,” an official from the BDA engineering department said.

The road work could be completed soon if the land is acquired as the delay in laying roads affect the work on providing other infrastructure, the official added.

Prashanth, a landowner, said farmers did show reluctance to part with their land due to the delay in getting compensation and site from the BDA.

“However, things are not the same now. Many farmers have come forward to sell the land for the connecting roads. However, the BDA officials are not showing interest,” he added.

BDA board meeting today

To take stock of various issues, the BDA’s governing council is set to meet on Wednesday, after a gap of 16 months.

Chairman of the council Rakesh Singh will head the meeting to be held at the BDA office.

The last meeting was held in February 2019. A meet scheduled in February 2020 was cancelled due to various reasons. Many proposals have been pending due to the meeting.

“A total of 63 proposals will come up before the council. All of them are major ones,” said BDA Commissioner H R Mahadev.