Bengaluru to follow Hyderabad’s example in building Peripheral Ring Road

Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said on Tuesday that the state government has decided to return 40% of the land to the farmers, hinting that the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) may notify more properties for acquisition in the future.

Bengaluru: Bengaluru will take cue from Hyderabad in building the 74-kilometre Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) that gathered dust for 20 years.

Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said on Tuesday that the state government has decided to return 40 per cent of the land to the farmers, hinting that the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) may notify more properties for acquisition in the future.

"We are not pledging the BBMP properties, but there is a plan to acquire properties for the Peripheral Ring Road project under the 60:40 ratio,” Shivakumar told reporters.

So far, the government was keen to build the 90-metre ring road around the city by providing cash compensation to the farmers. The BDA had estimated the land acquisition cost to be around Rs 21,000 crore, while the construction cost was expected to be around Rs 7,000 crore.

Shivakumar was unhappy over the proposal, noting that while BDA returns 40% of developed land to farmers or land losers in layouts like Dr Shivaram Karanth Layout or Kempegowda Layout, compensation structure differs significantly for the PRR project.

A source close to the deputy chief minister told DH that the government is keen on building the project on a land-pooling model, implemented successfully in states such as Gujarat (Sardar Patel Ring Road) and Hyderabad (60-metre-wide Ring Road).

The idea is to return 40 per cent of the value-appreciated land back to the farmers so that the local residents, too, stand to benefit from the new infrastructure project, the officer said.

Ad policy

Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said the government will notify a new ad policy in a week. He said the government is keen on bringing back the advertisements, including on metro pillars.

DH had reported about the deputy chief minister consenting to the policy on Monday. 

Meanwhile, to a question, he said the government will shortly announce elections to the BBMP. 

Actor Darshan encroaches rajakaluve

Actor Darshan has come under the scanner for encroaching a rajakaluve in RR Nagar while building his house.

To a question on the encroachment by the controversial actor, Shivakumar said the BBMP has been given instructions to vacate the stay brought by encroachers.

“We are pursuing all cases irrespective of how powerful the encroacher is. Whenever there is encroachment, we have the right to get them vacated,” BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath said on Tuesday.