The Hindu 23.12.2009

Action to be taken on those producing fake documents to get BDA sites

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: The State Government has allotted 132 Bangalore Development Agency (BDA) housing sites, and the beneficiaries include 65 MLAs and MLCs in Bangalore since April 2008, under its discretionary quota.

In a reply to Ramalinga Reddy of the Congress during Question Hour on Tuesday, Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa assured the Legislative Assembly that action would be taken against those who secured BDA sites by producing forged documents. “If there are any specific cases of persons having two or three houses who have secured sites, then we will take action,” he said.

Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah alleged that only ruling party legislators had been allotted sites by the BDA, while the Janata Dal (Secular) floor leader H.D. Revanna sought registration of criminal cases against all those who secured sites by producing fake documents.

An account

Mr. Yeddyurappa said the S.M. Krishna government had allotted sites to 334 persons; the Dharam Singh government to 76 persons; and the H.D. Kumaraswamy government to 283 persons. The Bharatiya Janata Party Government had allotted 132 sites from April 1, 2008, to December 14, 2009, he said.

Members of Parliament, Ministers, MLAs, MLCs, government officials, businessmen, agriculturists, social workers, ex-Ministers, professors and artistes had been allotted sites measuring 50x80 sq.ft. and 40x60 sq.ft. A total of eight Ministers in the BJP government secured BDA sites and they were G. Karunakara Reddy, K. Shivanagouda, S. Suresh Kumar, Shivaraj Thangadagi, G. Krishna Palemar, Goolihatti D. Shekar, Aravind Limbavali and Anand V. Asnotikar.

The BDA also allotted sites for MPs from the State and the beneficiaries were B.Y. Raghavendra, son of the Chief Minister; S. Shivanagouda, Koppal MP; Janardhana Swamy, Chitradurga MP; and Fakeerappa, Raichur MP. Housing sites had also been allotted to MLAs M. Chandrappa, K. Madal, Veerabhadrappa Halaharavi, M. Narayanaswamy, Paranna Eshwarappa, Balagi, B.P. Harish, M. Basavaraj Naik, Parthapagowda Patil, K. Nemaraj Naik, Boosanur Ramesh, Kulakarni Srikanth, V.S. Patil, Bidaroor Srishylappa, B.N. Vijayakumar, Mallika Prasad, B. Suresh Gowda, Chikkanna, Y.N. Rudresh Gowda, N. Shankrappa, Sureshgowdra B. Patil, S.R. Vishwanath, J. Narayanaswamy, K.M. Krishna Murthy, A. Manju, Prabhu Chauvan, G. Shivanna, Eshanna, Sanjaya B. Patil, Prahalad K. Remani, Ihole Duryodhana, Shankar Patil, Seema Ashok, D.S. Suresh, K. Lakshminarayana, Y. Sampangi, M.V. Nagaraju, Suresh Gowda, Vishwanatha, B.K. Sangameshwara, Amaresh, Hemachandra Sagar, Vittal Dhondibha Naik, T.H. Suresh Babu, Doddappagouda Baribola, Kakasaheb Patil, B. Chandra Naik, H.R. Sreenath, M. Satish Reddy, B. Nagedra, R. Narendra, Puttaranga Shetty, Shivayogi Swamy, M. Sathyanarayana, S.K. Basavarajan, N.L. Naredra Babu and Siddu Savadi. The MLCs were Amatheppa Kandakoora, Bharati Shetty, A.M. Hidasageri, Y.A. Narayanaswamy, B. Chidananda, S.G. Medappa, S.V. Ramachandra and Kota Srinivas Poojary. The BDA also allotted sites to professionals such as T. Amaranath (government official), Jayanth M. Thinekar (social worker), Sabira Begaum (housewife), C. Narasimhappa (agriculturist), Vidyaprasanna Thirtha Swamiji of Kukke Subramanya Temple, Lt. Pankaj Chauvan (ADC to Governor), Vachaspathy Upadhyaya (Sanskrit professor), Shylaja Srinath (mother of Master Kishan, award-winning film director), Capt. S. Amal Raj (Army officer), K.J. Jesudas (playback singer), S. Rajappa (Central government employee), P.V. Krishna Bhat (social worker), S.A. Madhumathi (business), M.S. Patil (ex-Minister), Hasansab Nabisab Dhothihala, U.B. Banakar, Rukmaiah Poojary, K.V. Subba Reddy, Ivan Nigli, K. Jayaram Shetty, H.B. Krishna Shetty, D.C. Gowri Shankar, M.D. Lakshmi Narayana, D.B. Gangappa, Shivaraj, G. Mantura and Shivananda Rudrappa Ambadagatti (all ex-MLAs), J.G. Krishnamurthy (agriculturist), Ayanur Manjunath (ex-MP), K.M. Channegowda and R. Rajashekar (agriculturist), Nagarathna Manchali and Shan Suraj Mal (business), Shiv M. Shivashankar (doctor), B. Vijaya Sangamadeva (retired district surgeon), late Chandulal Jain (film producer), M. Nararaj (KPSC member), P.B. Srinvas (playback singer).

The Times of India 22.12.2009

Surat eyes BMC model on slum redevpt

Sharad Vyas, TNN 22 December 2009, 01:52am IS

Mumbai may be cribbing about its slums and their eyesore quotient but there are municipal corporations in the country that think the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is doing such a good job that they want to come here and study the civic model.

The Surat Municipal Corporation is one such civic agency that plans to visit Mumbai to see for itself how the BMC manages its slums and learn and emulate its slum models and slum redevelopment initiatives. The SMC team is likely to arrive in Mumbai on December 24. Surat, the country's biggest diamond hub, is one of the Indian towns that is grappling with an acute problem of fast-growing urban slums.

The idea is to take a leaf out BMC's methods to deal with the problem of settlements on water pipelines and footpaths and then improve the living conditions inside Surat's urban slums, said officials.

"Both cities can learn from each other; while migrants flock to Mumbai which is the country's financial capital, the bulk of Surat's slums are home to labourers from flourishing diamond and garment industries. Fast growing population has put pressure on Surat Slum Improvement Board to make city free of slums by 2012,'' said a senior BMC official.

The SMC has set itself a target of relocating over 40,000 squatters located in flood-prone areas, on reservation plots and road alignments over the next three years. The task is herculean since the numbers are growing every day and over five lakh urban poor live in Surat's 400 slum settlements.

The SMC officials will also give a presentation on two of their first slum housing projects for the poor, and the grant sanctioned to them under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. "They have already received over Rs 500 crore, which will be used to built 40,000 houses,'' said BMC officials.