BDA bulldozes on illegal encroachments worth Rs 100 crore in JP Nagar

Bengaluru: Continuing with its crackdown on encroachments that have taken place on lands belonging to the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), the Special Task Force (STF) in an operation on Thursday demolished buildings on its lands in Allahalli, J P Nagar and recovered a 4.20 acre BDA property.

The BDA recovered its encroached land estimated to be around Rs 100 crore. Around 40 unauthorized sheds were cleared under the direction of BDA South Zone Executive Engineer HS Chunchegowda. In 1988, the BDA issued a preliminary notification for the acquisition of the land for Phase 9 of the JP Nagar project. The space was acquired by issuing a final notification in 1997. Some have temporarily built 40 sheds and claimed the space is theirs. The court ruled in favor of the BDA in this regard. It was recently ordered to acquire the encroached land. The BDA officials cleared the sheds with a security of more than 75 police personnel, including BDA officials, Police official Bhaskar and Dy SP Ravikumar, on a court order.

Responding on the encroachment clearance, BDA Chairman SR Viswanath said, "A number of assets of the Bangalore Development Authority are encroached. The process of reclaiming these assets has begun. This process will continue." He clarified that no matter how influential they are, the encroached BDA land will be reclaimed by law.

Recently, the Supreme Court has directed that the assets belonging to the BDA be confiscated and developed into residences and distributed to the public by auction. Accordingly, the acquisition of BDA's encroached properties will be progressively developed into sites and distributed through auction.