Bengaluru: Government pushes for scheme in new avatar

BENGALURU: In a bid to consolidate votes in next year’s assembly elections and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) polls, the government is doing all it can to roll out the contentious Akrama-Sakrama scheme, which seeks to regularise illegal constructions and buildings with plan violations.
The government will also garner thousands of crores in revenue. A case objecting to the scheme is pending in the Supreme Court, but the government is preparing to approach the top court, seeking permission to implement the scheme for residential buildings constructed on 40x60 sq ft sites. “It will help lakhs of poor and middleclass families. No commercial building will be regularised,” revenue minister R Ashok said.
The government’s move comes in the wake of Namma Bengaluru Foundation, the main petitioner which secured a stay on the scheme from the SC when the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government had sought to implement it in 2016, saying it has no objection to the scheme “if it helps poor and middle-class homeowners”. In a letter to CM Bommai on July 19, the foundation said:
“Many people have been approaching us with problems relating to their homes and properties as the government paused all regularisations because of the stay. So, we don’t have any objection to the government approaching the SC and seeking exemption for poor and middle-class families who are impacted by the stay,” the letter said. The scheme was first announced by the BS Yediyurappa in 2010, and it has been embroiled in legal issues since. Many NGOs and civil society groups claim the scheme is illegal in its entirety.
Some even accused the government of trying to help builders and developers in the name of the poor and the middle-class. Ashoka said if the SC gives the green signal, about 12 lakh families who built houses on illegal layouts or constructed houses in violation of building plans will stand to benefit.
BENGALURU:The government will also earn about Rs 20,000 crore in revenue as regularisation of illegal structures will come with a fee, Ashoka said.