Arkavathy allottees protest, seek sites in same layout

  Site allottees at Arkavathy layout staged a protest in front of the Bangalore
Development Authority (BDA), demanding allotment of plots in the same layout.
The BDA had recently announced allotment of alternative sites in the newly formed Nadaprabhu Kempegowda layout to those who lost their alloted plots in Arkavathy Layout because of redo and denotification.

Speaking to reporters, one of the protesters demanded that they be allotted sites in Arkavathy Layout itself. “I have been paying taxes for the last 10 years for the site alloted,'' Nagaraj said.

Nagaraj plans to stage an indefinite protest in front of the BDA head office if the agency fails to provide information about his lost site and provide an alternative site in the same layout. He demanded the BDA to at least provide information as to whom his allotted plot has been given.

Another allottee, Vinay Kumar said that he had fenced his site. “Three years ago, the BDA said that my site is lost in the redo process. Later, I found out from the court that my site is not part of the redo or denotification,” he said, expressing his anger over the BDA’s apathy towards providing information about his site.

“Even after I produced a court copy, which clearly says that my site is still with me, the BDA officials are delaying the decision,” Kumar said.

A majority of the allottees in Arkavathy Layout are senior citizens. One such senior citizen is 80-year-old Dr S N Sureshwaraiah who used to work in Victoria Hospital. He was allotted a 2,400 sqft site in Arkavathy Layout. “I have been paying taxes for the last 10 years. Now, they say my site does not exist,” he said.

Some protesters said that several plots in Arkavathy Layout have been sold by creating fake and forged documents. “Many plots have been sold to builders,” said one of the women protesters referring to one such deal where a site belonging to one of her friends was sold to a builder.