BDA's acquisition plan grips apartment residents with fear in Bengaluru’s Ganigarahalli

Bengaluru: Residents of an apartment in North Bengaluru’s Ganigarahalli are living in fear after the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) marked a portion of their building for acquisition to widen the existing two-lane road.

The BDA’s plan to build a 30-metre road, they say, will come in the way of 16 flats as the authority wants to acquire land on which ten pillars of the apartment are standing.

To make matters worse, the 30-metre road has been mentioned in the revised master plan (RMP) 2015 but the BDA does not have a record of widening all roads as per the RMP document. 

Residents are, however, worried after the BDA’s land acquisition officers marked a portion of Green Valley Apartments for acquisition.

The apartment – comprising a total of 48 flats spread over four blocks – falls in Dr K Shivaram Karanth Layout but the building was regularized by Justice AV Chandrashekar led committee (JCC) provided the owners submit a copy of the occupancy certificate. 

“We made a request to the BDA to change the alignment as the land in front of our building is a vacant plot. It belongs to the BDA,” Amit Kumar Tiwari, president of the Green Valley Apartment Owner’s Welfare Association said.

“The BDA has promised to compensate for the land but not for the building. This will only ensure 16 families are homeless,” he added. 

They also presented a copy of the building plan approved by the panchayat as well as the occupancy certificate issued by Somashettyhalli Gram Panchayat. The BDA engineers were not available for comment.