Cheap sites – A Press report
amid a crackdown by the state government against illegal layouts, city deputy commissioner Shankar urges people buying property to verify land documents
Keen on investing in land or buying new plots at a lucrative price of Rs 400 to Rs 800 per sqft around Bengaluru? Think twice before investing in such land; chances are that it could be illegal land grabbed by the developer and being offered at a throwaway price. The truth behind cheap rates of plots, particularly in the outskirts of Bengaluru, has been exposed with the Bengaluru district revenue officials recovering many acres of land over the last two days. The officials have recovered more than 100 acres of government land encroached upon by major builders and made into illegal layouts.
CASE IN POINT
Giving details of one such recovery, Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner V Shankar said, “City-based builders Sai Developers had come up with a sprawling layout on a 25-acre area in survey number 57 in Hommadevanahalli near Anekal in Bengaluru South on an encroached land worth Rs 250 crore. We have disconnected power lines, levelled roads and taken the land into our custody and booked a criminal case against the promoters of the developers.”
Similarly, officials also recovered 18 acres in survey number 5 in Agasa Thimmanahalli, and 7.20 acres in survey no 179 near S Bingeepura, according to the deputy commissioner.
Alerting the public, T Suneel Kumar, chief of Bengaluru Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) said, “People must beware of those offering plots at a lucrative price. Buyers must verify whether the land has been converted or not and if the promoter has obtained necessary approval by BDA or BMRDA. Further, they must check with the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) if the prospective land falls in the green belt. Otherwise, it will be illegal and people may lose their hard-earned money.”
Coming down heavily on land sharks who have grabbed land around city lakes, the Bengaluru Urban DC has set weekly deadlines to tahsildars for clearing encroachments.
“Bengaluru urban district has a total of 899 lakes spreading across 22,999.38 acres. Out of this, 373 lakes measuring 1,444 acres have been encroached by sharks. So far, we have recovered 279 lakes spread across 460 acres. To reclaim the remaining, we have set a weekly target of 50 acres for every tahsildar. They should identify encroached land and evict the encroacher,” Shankar said.
According to him, the department has been receiving many complaints of land grabbing and illegal layouts.
In a significant move, the revenue department proposes to give registrars of Land Records and Registration more powers to delve deep into the registration of documents for assessing their originality.
“As of now, they can only register a property based on documents presented by the buyers. Their job, hitherto, was not to check the authenticity of the records to ensure transparency.”
“If they are given the additional power of scrutinising documents, then we could control illegal land grabbing to a certain extent,” explained an official