A double-whammy injustice to land-losers

Property rates in Bengaluru, one of the fastest growing cities in the world, have always been on a constant rise but for a brief period during the pandemic. However, in a miracle of sorts, real estate rates around the proposed peripheral ring road (PRR), now rechristened Bengaluru Business Corridor (BBC), are set to fall by up to 50 per cent, while under normal circumstances it should have more than doubled. So, what explains this strange phenomenon? After increasing guidance value for properties across the city only recently, the government has now issued another notification cutting the same by half across the 73-km BBC.

The downward revision has been notified for more than 75 villages, including ones that are currently witnessing massive growth. These include Kadugodi, Varthur, Gunjur, Ramagondanahalli, Harohalli, Aduru, Rampura and Hebbagodi. The decision will badly hit those whose lands will be acquired for the project  because along with the fall in guidance value, the compensation they will receive will also go down drastically. This is clearly a case of the government trying to shortchange land losers who have already faced much hardship due to the long delay in the implementation of the project, and the government can be accused of doing so deceptively. This will also be seen as a move to help real estate sharks to buy land around the BBC at much lower rates.

As it is, the land losers are being denied fair compensation under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation Act, 2013. According to the Act, the compensation amount should vary from two to four times the market value, depending on whether a piece of land falls in urban or rural areas. The Supreme Court had upheld the state government’s contention that compensation would be paid under the BDA Act as the lands were notified for acquisition in 2006, much before the central Act was enacted. The reduction in the guidance value now thus comes as a double whammy. Also, over the years, the government has changed the alignment of the road several times, adding or removing certain properties to be acquired.

The government should be fair to those who stand to lose land for the project. It should be remembered that many of them are farmers and know of no other vocation but agriculture. Chief Minister Siddarmaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar must realise that the inexplicable move to lower guidance value will be seen as a sleight of hand and an injustice meted out to land losers. They will do well to reverse the move.