Arkavathy allottees protest outside BDA office

Most of us pay taxes for housing sites which exist only on paper, protesters say

More than 250  Arkavathy Layout site allottees staged a protest at the head office of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) on Tuesday.

Speaking to mediapersons, G Shivaprakash, president of Arkavathy Layout Welfare Association said “We are not here to stage a protest or give any memorandum to the BDA but want answers. We want to know what was the basis on which the BDA was denotifying the sites as its own town planning wing was yet approve the layout plan?”

We want to know what is the present status of the layout as chief minister had promised to hand over 8,000 sites to the allottees by March 31? “How can the government and officials assure people when the BDA is yet to acquire land?” he added.

Another allottee, Madhav Rao said for the past eight years he had been fighting for the site. In some places BDA has developed the layout and in some places it has been left vacant.

“Each time we approach the BDA, we were told to wait for two months. These two months have become eight long years. Looking at the present status, it does not look like the BDA can fulfil its promise,” he added.

“That is not it. Most of us are also paying taxes for the site which exists only on paper. I am one such case. I was allotted the site in the year 2008 after registration but it is only on the paper,” said 65-year-old G K Ramachandra.

The allottees pointed out that the BDA has not mentioned any site or allotment numbers on ground. BDA Commissioner T Sham Bhat told mediapersons “The BDA has not yet started denotifying any area. We have held meetings in the last few days and another will be held on February 25 to decide the future course of action. If the chief minister has announced that sites will be given by March 31, 2014, they will be given.”