JOIN USMysuru royals to get TDR in lieu of Palace Grounds land
Paving the way for the widening of Ballari Road (from Windsor Manor junction to Mehkri Circle) and Jayamahal Road, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has put out a notification for issuing Transferable Development Right (TDR) to the erstwhile royal family of Mysuru against acquisition of a portion of Palace Grounds.
While the road was widened from Mehkri Circle to Hebbal junction and beyond, the stretch between Windsor Manor junction and Mehkri Circle is narrow and remains a bottleneck. The BBMP built two grade separators — overpass and underpass — to address the problem but that did not help much.
The state government, however, shelved land acquisition and decided to build a steel flyover instead. But now that the steel flyover project has been scrapped, road-widening remains the only option. The Supreme Court as well as the High Court of Karnataka had directed the government to go ahead with the land acquisition.
The government and the BBMP initially insisted that the royals would be given monetary compensation for acquisition of 13.1 acres of Palace Grounds based on the guidance value on the day the final land acquisition notification was issued. But the amount was paltry given the prime location. The royal family demanded TDR. The dispute went to the Supreme Court, which ruled in the royals’ favour.
The BBMP requires a total of 15.39 acres, of which 13.10 acres are owned by the royals. The land belongs to the late Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar and his wife Pramoda Devi, his sisters Meenakshi Devi, Kamakshi Devi, Indrakshi Devi, Sardar Ramachandra Raja Urs and M Chandrashekhar Raju.
The BBMP intends to widen Ballari Road to 45 metres. It intends to widen Jayamahal Road, from Mehkri Circle to railway underbridge. BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad said the acquisition of Palace Grounds was the first case under the new TDR policy which came into force in March.