The Times of India           22.11.2010

HMDA to wind up ORR land issue in Jan '11

HYDERABAD: After five long years, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) is all set to wind up the land acquisition process for the Outer Ring Road (ORR). It is planning to end the process in January 2011 by allotting land-to-land compensation to about 2,800 individuals, who had to give up their land for the project.

The authority has also started posting village-wise details of names of affected land owners, survey no., extent, compensation paid and structural value on its website. HMDA officials said details of Units 2, 4, 5 and 6 have been posted on the website, while Unit 1 details would be put up soon.

For the 170-kilometre ORR, land acquisition process began in 2005, but gathered momentum only in 2007 after the state government fixed compensation package for farmers losing their valuable land to the ORR.

For ORR Phase I, II-A and II-B projects, the HMDA had acquired nearly 6,100 acres in 85 villages in surrounding areas of the city from 8,000 land owners. In Unit 4, which covers areas like Shamirpet, Thumkunta, Yadgarpally, Cheeryal and Ghatkesar villages and part of Phase II-B, 2,016 property owners lost their land.

Over 80 acres of land __ 55 acres in Kandlakoya, four acres in Poppalguda, 10 acres near Muthangi junction, eight acres in Shamirpet and four acres in Keesara areas __ are still caught in legal wrangles. Officials hope court verdict would be out by the time the ORR gets completed in 2012.

Towards land acquisition, nearly Rs 500 crore compensation has already been paid and another Rs 100 crore would have to be paid to land owners in some areas where the urban development authority deposited a part of the compensation in court as the land owners did not come forward to take compensation and denied to give consent. In some cases, there were title disputes between parties, while in some there were no claimants.

At the beginning, officials thought they would need about 8,000 acres of land for ORR and satellite townships along it. The authority created separate units to acquire land. However, they dropped the idea of acquiring nearly 2,000 acres for townships following opposition from the people. An acquisition unit, 3, was also withdrawn by HMDA three years ago.

"Under land-to-land compensation to 3,600 individuals, 859 people were allotted plots in developed layouts in Shamshabad and Srinagar. The rest would be given plots in Kondapur, Yadgarpally, Thimmaipally and Koheda by January, 2011," ORR special deputy collector (land acquisition) K Bhaskar said.

The Hindu  22.11.2010

‘G' category beneficiaries rush to BDA to get sites

Afshan Yasmeen

Plea to cancel registration of surrendered sites

Bangalore: Following the land scams rocking Karnataka, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has suddenly become a hub of activity.

With the Urban Development Department reportedly issuing government orders directing the BDA to allot ‘G' category sites to an increasing number of people favoured by the Chief Minister, (the BDA has received nearly 15 GOs from November 1 till date), the beneficiaries are rushing to the BDA to get their files cleared and site allotted.

“This is because the beneficiaries are not sure about the Government's fate and are worried that the GO issued in their favour would be kept in abeyance if a political crisis erupts in the State,” a top BDA official told The Hindu.

“But following the recent developments, we have been directed by our Commissioner (Bharatlal Meena) to put on hold the process of ‘G' category site allotment,” the official said.

‘G' category sites are sought after as they are mostly in prime residential areas of the city. It is the discretion of the Chief Minister to allot sites under this category to people who have achieved eminence but do not own residential property in Bangalore.

On Saturday, The Hindu found at least three beneficiaries who were trying to get files pertaining to a GO issued in their favour moved. While one was trying to get a fresh site allotted in HBR Layout, the other two were making attempts to get alternative sites. An aide of Chamundeshwari MLA M. Satyanarayana (Congress) was seen waiting to meet a top official to get the file pertaining to an alternative site allotment cleared.

Meanwhile, it is also learnt that a site allotted to the former MLA S.M. Muniyappa in HAL 2 {+n} {+d} Stage has recently been swapped with the former Minister Hartal Halappa, who was allotted a site in Geddalahalli.

Cancellation

Following the surrendering of the sites by the Chief Minister's relatives, RTI activists now demand that the cancellations should not be only on papers in the BDA. “The sites are registered in their names at the jurisdictional sub-registrar offices. The cancellation of allotment will be valid only if they get the registrations (at the sub-registrar offices) cancelled,” said B.M. Shivakumar, an activist.

Mr. Shivakumar said: “We know it is the Chief Minister's discretionary quota. But why should these people get sites only in prime locations? Why cannot they be given in the yet-to-be developed Anjanapura and Visvesvaraya Layouts?”

“Nearly 2.5 lakh applicants are waiting for a BDA site for more than 10 years. But for these MPs and MLAs, including the Chief Minister's son, it has hardly taken a month to grab large-dimension sites in upscale areas in Bangalore. Can anyone believe that the Chief Minister's son does not have a home or a site? B.Y. Raghavendra should be prosecuted for false declaration,” he said.