BDA gives KG Layout allottees sites close to drain

Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout may well be another example of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) disregard for rules.

Many allottees say their sites are within touching distance of a stormwater drain (rajakaluve) that criss-crosses the sprawling residential colony, off Magadi Road in southwestern Bengaluru. What this means is that the BDA clearly disregarded the National Green Tribunal's 2016 orders on maintaining a 50-metre buffer zone from the primary rajakaluve. A buffer zone is an area where no construction should take place.

But what has upset the allottees more is that the BDA had actually promised to follow the NGT orders while forming the colony.

A 60x40 site allotted to Padmanabhaya's wife Supriya in Ramasandra 2nd Stage, 3rd Block, is just a few metres from the rajakaluve with a 12-metre-wide road in between, as per the site blueprint. "Even if we leave a buffer zone of 35 metres, we will lose 95% of our land," Padmanabhaya said.

Padmanabhaya paid an initial deposit of Rs 6.54 lakh and is yet to pay the remaining Rs 53 lakh for the site. He said he was already having second thoughts. "It would be foolish to take such a site. The are many others who have been allotted sites around ours. Many of them are not even aware of the irregularity," he told DH.

Another allottee said he was afraid the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) would not give permission for construction if there were anomalies in sites. He further said Kempegowda Layout was going the Arkavathy Layout way.

Avinash, another allottee, said his father had got a site after eight attempts since 1978. But the site now falls in the buffer zone. He alleged BDA officials were not confirming whether the rajakaluve is primary or secondary.

BDA Commissioner Rakesh Singh said people who had been allotted sites in the buffer zone could approach him directly and promised to give them alternative sites.