While confusion prevails on the extent of the penalties with regard to the buildings on revenue sites, one fact which comes out clearly is that the latest Sakrama scheme would, in fact, be costlier.

Highly placed government sources had claimed that under the proposed Sakrama scheme this year, the penalty would be somewhere around Rs 30,000 to Rs 45,000 for a site measuring 20 feet by 30 feet. In metre terms the site measures around 55.74 square metres. For regularisation, one has to shell out somewhere between Rs 538 to Rs 807 per square metre.

Interestingly, Sakrama-2007 was offering Rs 200 per square metre for regularising violations relating to formation of sites in Bangalore while Rs 100 for regularisation of residential buildings. Altogether, a person with a house with complete building plan violations was to pay Rs 300 per square metre.

In the case of a site with a dimension of 30 feet by 40 feet (111.7 sq. metre), the per square metre penalty this time will be between Rs 537 and Rs 807 whereas in Sakrama-2007 the maximum penalty was around Rs 500 and the minimum amount was just Rs 100. Regularising sites with a dimension of 40 feet by 60 feet (222.96 sq. metre) would cost between Rs 941 and Rs 807 per square metre this time. On the other hand in Sakrama 2007, the maximum penalty was merely Rs 700 per square metre.

Highlighting these anomalies in the scheme, former Mayor P R Ramesh said this is nothing but an eyewash. “This government is fooling people by claiming that the Sakrama-2009 is cheaper. The government is misguiding people that this year’s Sakrama is far better than the previous one whereas Sakrama-2007 appears to be quite cheaper than this.”

“It’s a gimmick”
The Congress has termed the State government’s new penalty slabs for Sakrama, regularisation of unauthorised constructions and developments a gimmick in the wake of coming BBMP elections. The fine revised by the cabinet sub-committee is also very high, the party alleged.

KPCC working president D K Shivakumar, on Wednesday, criticised the government’s idea to bring in an ordinance of the revised scheme. The government was avoiding a debate on the scheme in the State Legislature and trying to woo voters for BBMP elections by making false claims, he alleged.

He said Congress workers would stage protests in all districts on October 2 alleging that the government had failed to distribute ration to BPL card holders. Leaders of the party’s district units would stage protests in front offices of Deputy Commissioners in all districts, he added.