Mysterious tank bed holds up Arkavathy Layout work

BDA may again approach State govt to amend CDP 2015

Negligence on the part of Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) officials while preparing the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) 2015 has stalled the work on formation of the much-delayed Arkavathy Layout.

As many as 76 acres were eamarked for the creation of Arkavathy Layout in 2004 in Byrathikhane village. Curiously, the CDP 2015 shows 18.76 acres of the land as ‘tank bed.’

Officials working with the BDA on the formation of the Arkavathy Layout identified this mysterious tank bed during their field inspection of Byrathikhane village a month ago. This has nullified the formation of 100 to 150 sites on account of ‘being on the tank bed.’

The same extent of land was not mentioned as tank bed in the Revised Development Plan 1995. Even the revenue records of this land suggest nothing more than a valley which is primarily wet land utilised to grow water intensive crops. Landowners and allottees alike were shocked to see that the land has been marked as tank bed.

“While the allottees are facing severe site crunch after the Supreme Court ruled that the BDA has to provide developed land to landlosers in their own property, the landowners who have been allotted these sites are now in serious trouble,” said a consultant working with the BDA on the formation of the layout.

One of the landowners, an agriculturist in Byrathikhane, said the BDA had even forgotten that a portion of 0.08 guntas on Survey no 19 was allotted to the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, and marked it in the CDP as tank bed. It is said that while preparing the CDP 2015, the BDA field officers may not even have visited the land in the village and taken a spatial view of the land.

“In all likelihood, the BDA may have used a spatial image of the area and mistook the wet lands, apart from the open drain which flows adjacent to it as a tank,” said another landowner.

According to sources, in order to mitigate the problem, the BDA may approach the State government to again amend the CDP 2015.

It may be recalled that the BDA had already approached the State government to amend the plan earlier in April, after the High Court pulled up the State government for lack of response to the questions related to the CDP. The Court had questioned the State on whether the builders’ lobby was running the government in preparing these masterplans.