Palike, defence seal land swap deal for infra works

The long-pending tussle over land between the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the Defence establishments for Palike's 11 infrastructure projects seems to have reached a happy ending, as the two institutions have agreed upon exchanging land.

The BBMP had been making the demand for the land for the last many years but it was only recently the two institutions arrived at a consensus. The Palike requires a total of 38 acres and 28 guntas of defence land in prime locations of the City. The defence establishment, in turn, was demanding a land, whose value equalled the property it was to part with.

As per the agreement, the BBMP will hand over 207 acres and 24 guntas of its land in survey number 23 of Thammanayakanahalli village in Anekal taluk to the defence establishments. It is also learnt that the BBMP has agreed to extend the lease period of 3,700 sq mtr of land given to the defence establishment in Ulsoor. The lease period is coming to an end shortly. Further, the BBMP has also agreed to give on lease another piece of 4,500 sq metres of land, which is adjacent to Ulsoor lake.

The deal between the BBMP and the defence establishment was initiated by the then BBMP Administrator T M Vijay Bhaskar in a meeting on August 7, 2015 where BBMP Commissioner G Kumar Naik, Col S Gopalan and Col S D Rueben were also present. The infrastructure projects for which the BBMP required land was discussed in the meeting. Palike had initially decided to offer Transferable Development Rights (TDR), which is learnt to have been rejected. The defence establishment wanted only land in exchange for its property in the City.

Palike sources said that the BBMP administrator had sent a proposal to the State government on August 10, 2015 stating that that it had 283 acres and two guntas of land in Belagavi and 207 acres and 24 guntas of land in Anekal. It was also brought to the notice of the Ministry of Defence. The defence establishment, in return, showed its willingness for the land in Anekal and the State government too agreed. Further, a joint survey was carried out and finally the two institutions agreed in principle to seal the deal.

Sources in the BBMP said the Bengaluru Development Minister K J George too had a meeting with the officials of the defence establishment to speed up land exchange between the BBMP and the defence. Speaking to Deccan Herald, Naik said Palike has agreed in principle to exchange the land and it will wait the approval of Ministry of Defence. “Once the MoD agrees, we will start our projects. The State government too cooperated in providing land at Anekal to exchange with the Defence,” he said.
A senior engineer in the Road Infrastructure division of the Palike said this exchange of land will facilitate the Palike to build grade separators, that will ease the traffic bottlenecks.