Guidance value of properties along PRR suppressed in the past, too

Bengaluru: The guidance value of properties situated along and abutting the proposed Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) was suppressed even in the past.

In 2016, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) requested the Stamps and Registration Department not to increase the guidance value of the properties, saying it would put a huge financial burden on the BDA to compensate the land losers. 

The BDA’s 2016 letter surfaced on WhatsApp, a day after DH published the news report entitled ‘Guidance value along PRR cut; jolt to land-losers’.

Earlier this month, the Stamps and Registration Department axed the guidance value of properties along the PRR alignment by as much as 50%.  The selective reduction of guidance value, which comes five months after notifying an upward revision of guidance value across Karnataka, will see a major cut in the monetary relief of land losers, besides providing a free run for money buyers to go on a land buying spree. 

Old letter

In the 2016 letter, the BDA pointed out that the guidance value of properties along the PRR alignment had been revised four times since 2005. “As per the 2014 notification, the cost of acquiring 1,810 acres of land situated in 67 villages is estimated at Rs 8,100 crore. If the base price is increased again, it will cause a huge financial burden on the project,” the BDA commissioner’s letter states.  “For the growth of Bengaluru and to address the present traffic congestion, the BDA has proposed to build a 65-km PRR between Tumakuru Road via Old Madras Road and Hosur Road,” the letter states, with a request not to increase the guidance value during the future revision. 

Reliable sources told DH that the guidance value remained unchanged in 2018 when the government notified an upward revision across Karnataka.  In September last year, the Stamps and Registration Department increased the guidance value by 10% to 50% as the BDA, which is a member of the revision committee, did not attend any meetings. 

Only after some bidders red-flagged the increase, the BDA officials approached the Stamps and Registration Department to withdraw the revision, it’s learnt. 

The PRR, whose land requirement has gone up to 2,560 acres, is completely funded by the private bidders including the cost of land acquisition. As per the BDA’s estimates, the compensation for an acre of land will be Rs 8 crore. 

A farmer, whose land is notified for acquisition in Soladevanahalli, said the BDA was trying to cheat land losers to help private bidders. “The project has been delayed by 18 years. No owner could develop their property. On top of this, the stretch will have no service roads. Like me, many were hoping to recover the loss they incurred in the last 18 years by either selling their land or turning it into layouts,” he said.