Allottees livid over move to expand Arkavathy Layout

BENGALURU: The recent proposal by the government to extend the Arkavathy Layout by an additional 450 acres has not gone down well with the site allottees for whom the move has been effected. The proposal is aimed at providing alternative land to land owners who parted with their land for the layout formation on 2,750 acres as well as allottees whose lands were taken away from them due to a series of denotification orders.

A notification needs to be issued, land acquired, layout developed and then allotment made, which would all take considerable time, says the Forum representing allottees. Nearly 3,500 are awaiting alternative land for over a decade from the BDA. 

A highly placed BDA official quoted the order dated February 24 as stating that 450 acres of land would be acquired in Mittaganahalli, Kogilu, Kattigenahalli, Srinivasapura, Baiyappanahalli and Sathanur to form the Arkavathy Layout Extension. The order states that farmers would be provided 9,583 square feet of developed site for every acre that was being acquired to form the layout.

M Nagaraju, president of the Arkavathy Layout Allottees Forum, an organisation which had been staging protests inside the BDA office every fortnight demanding justice for the allottees and land losers, “The individuals whose sites were taken away due to denotification are keen on acquiring land only inside the existing Arkavathy Layout. There is enough land to give it to the 3,500 individuals awaiting it. The demand over the years has been to provide alternative land only inside the Layout and not outside.”

Nagaraju also cited that this would involve enormous delay. “When will they issue the notification to acquire the lands, when will they be actually acquired and finally when will the layout be developed?. This would be time consuming,” he said.

BDA Chairman S R Vishwanath said, “As of now, there is land enough only for 1,000 sites and they can be handed over. To provide land for the remaining allottees and land losers, we need to go in for the option. The final notification for it will be issued shortly. Nearly 300 acres was under litigation in the courts. Only if the verdict is in our favour would it be possible to hand over land to the remaining. This solution was decided by the BDA long ago and the government has approved it now.”