The State government has done away with the cap on the minimum land requirement for private residential layout development in the entire Bengaluru Metropolitan Region (BMR). The move would pave way for smaller layouts to mushroom around the City.
The new rule has already come into effect in Anekal, Magadi and Nelamangala Local Planning Authority (LPA) limits and will be extended to other LPAs in the BMR soon.
Previously, a minimum of 10 acres was required for layout development in the BMR, comprising six LPAs. The only exception was Bangalore International Airport Area Planning Authority (BIAAPA), where land prices are very high.
The minimum limit on land has been removed in the three LPAs with effect from June 1, 2015, when the revised master plan for each of them came into effect.
Preparation of a master plan for LPAs of Hoskote and Kanakapura is underway. The Bengaluru Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA) will soon finalise the plans. The new rule will be introduced along with the revised master plan.
Additional Director of BMRDA, S B Honnur, said the government took the decision following pressure from the farmers in the region. It had received a large number of petitions to remove the cap.
The small land owners (owning less than 10 acres) contended that they were forced to either sell their land to real estate developers or enter into a joint development agreement with them due to the cap. The move will also prevent illegal layout formation, he added.
Under the new rule, permission for layout development will be given for one acre and above. But there is no change in the existing norm to reserve 45 per cent of the total land meant for the layout development for civic amenities, parks, playgrounds and roads, he added. The JD(S)-BJP government in 2006 had imposed the cap with an intention to prevent haphazard development in the BMR.
Sources in the BMRDA said that the decision to remove the cap will allow small layouts to come up. It is feared that small developers or farmers may compromise on the layout
development norms like reserving lands for parks and layouts.
Too many small layouts may also create problems for the development of infrastructure in the future, leading to haphazard development of layouts, sources in the BMRDA added.
The BMRDA will soon introduce an online system for layout approval in the BMR, excluding the BDA and the BBMP. All layout developers will have to submit all necessary documents and the prescribed application online.
A separate software is being developed for this purpose and it is likely to be unveiled in a month's time. Once approved, all documents pertaining to the layout will be uploaded on the E-vinyasa portal, the sources said.
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