BDA stops giving sites to Sir M V Layout land losers

The BDA secretary has issued a circular (dated December 4, 2010) directing all deputy secretaries to stop allotment of stray sites in BTM Layout 4th and 6th phase, J P Nagar 8th and 9th phase and Banashankari 5th phase, for those who owned revenue sites in Sir M V Layout.

Deccan Herald had carried a story in its issue dated December 2, reporting irregularities in allotment of alternative sites. The irregularities caused a loss of revenue to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore to the BDA, the report had said.

BDA began issuing allotment letters on December 1. The Authority had released a list of over 1,300 beneficiaries of alternative sites. Many of them were allotted sites worth Rs 50 lakh to Rs 70 lakh in lieu of revenue sites worth only a few thousands of rupees. This was in clear violation of the BDA rules and its own affidavit before the High Court. The BDA, in its affidavit, had stated that it would allot alternative sites in the to-be-developed Kempe Gowda Layout.

Many of the beneficiaries were said to be middlemen who purchased GPA from original owners of revenue sites. Soon after the irregularities in the allotment were reported in Deccan Herald, BDA stopped issuing the allotment letters in such cases. According to officials in BDA, only those who got alternative sites in new layouts were being given the letters now.