BENGALURU: Six years ago, when a few huts were destroyed in a Hosakerehalli slum in Banashankari III Stage, the government decided to rehabilitate the displaced families by allotting them sites. Cut to the present: The gesture was exploited by vested interests and has now turned into a Rs 140-crore site allotment scam.
Ten officials in Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), who allotted sites to ineligible persons and land- grabbers instead of giving them to families which lost their homes, have come under the scanner. Preliminary reports suggest these officials had prepared a list of 564 beneficiaries, while in reality hardly 40 families were to be rehabilitated. BDA commissioner HR Mahadev has issued show-cause notices to the 10 officials, including three Karnataka Administrative Service officers. TOI has copies of the notices.
Mahadev said the civic body was in the process of filing an FIR against the officials. On their involvement, he said: “A few of them have allotted sites to ineligible people and, in some cases, they have registered the sites without even collecting any money. In some instances, the officials have allotted multiple sites to the same individual. These are gross violations and they caused huge financial losses to the exchequer.” BDA will also file cases against those who got sites allotted by colluding with the officials.
The scam came to light recently when a BDA vigilance team raided a production house on Cunningham Road and found documents pertaining to 60 sites. The documents had been allegedly taken away from the BDA office and were being readied to be sold to site buyers at high prices. During investigation, it was found that the 10 officials were part of a cartel that was allotting sites in the name of the Hosakerehalli families.
Sources said a resolution had been passed by BDA in 2018 to provide land to displaced families of the Hosakerehalli slum. Instead of giving sites to the actual beneficiaries, the officials were changing records and allotting premium sites to others for a price. There is a pattern to the scam, sources said and added: “The officials would keep increasing the number of beneficiaries every time the BDA commissioner would be transferred and get approval for the updated list from the new commissioner. As every document looked genuine, no one questioned their authenticity and in some cases, it was done without the knowledge of BDA bigwigs.”