Stop all discretionary allotment of sites
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The idea of allotting land through the BDA and other planning authorities was to make it possible for people from the city who had no other way of owning a home, build one. But this objective seems to have been defeated now as very well off people from other cities and villages, and many others simply lie about their assets and properties to take advantage of this benefit. The BDA must come up with a different criteria to determine who is truly a ‘needy’ person. It can easily keep a dossier of property owners, instead of relying solely on declarations from the applicants themselves that they own no other property in the city. All it needs to do is establish an online, public database of all government holdings, and update it annually. Only this level of transparency and accessible record-keeping can check such unacceptable allotments.
We must also understand why corruption in allotment of land continues. Its a result of the evident difference in value between the allotment price and the true market price of land. This is nothing short of an attack on farmers in peri-urban areas who are routinely dispossessed to make sites for urban dwellings. Every one of our planning authorities in cities today is involved in this disgraceful arbitrage of land value between relatively poor farmers and relatively well-off city dwellers.
This is a tragedy that has gone on for long enough in our country, and must be ended. I urge the Chief Minister to announce an immediate end to all discretionary allotments of land and other public assets – by him, his office, and all offices of ministers in his government to restore public confidence in land management in Bengaluru and other cities.
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