Apart from giving them 40 per cent of the developed land as compensation, the BDA will also provide compensation for the trees and plants grown on their lands.

The farmers were compensated on the basis of the rates fixed by the forest dep a r t m e n t much earlier.

The compensation fixed earlier for every cubic metre of teak wood was Rs 22,339, whereas now, the land owners will get Rs 35,000 for the same. Mathi wood, earlier fixed at Rs 5,415 per cubic metre, will now fetch Rs 8,200 per cubic metre.

This amounts to more than a 50 per cent increase over the compensation rates fixed earlier; there is a similar increase in compensation for other plants and trees.

These rates were fixed by the forest department in 2008 after taking the existing market prices into consideration.

Now, the land owners have an added advantage as the forest department has fixed the compensation price for palm leaves, kajri plants, climbers and creepers, lantana plants, fodder grass, broom grass, fibres, thatching grass, barks, ulip and sampige sticks, ordinary sticks, wild ginger, posha grass, noja grass, lemon grass, eucalyptus sticks and leaves and other plants, that normally grow in the fields without much efforts to grow them.

A BDA official, on the condition of anonymity, said “If it takes more time for the department to acquire the land for these layouts, we will consider the prevailing market prices at that time and revise the compensation accordingly.” The BDA has proposed to develop five new layouts around the city, for which it has notified nearly 15,500 acres of land.

The authority has finished hearing all the objections filed against acquiring land for the proposed Kempegowda Layout and might issue a final notification (6.1) anytime.