While the city may be praying for early completion of the Metro Rail so that life can return to normal on its roads that have been dug up to make way for it, it has been delayed time and again for various reasons. Acquisition of land from the Railways for the project is now proving a fresh hurdle and holding up the construction of the Metro at the Majestic. Although willing to part with the land, the railways is making it clear it will not do so except on its own terms.

To the anger of the Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) it is refusing to transfer three parcels of land at Majestic to it on a permanent basis and is only willing to lease them to it for 35 years. The issue remained unresolved at a recent meeting called to sort it out between South Western Railway (SWR) and BMRCL, which doesn’t see why it should only be leasing the properties when it is expected to pay the full amount for them.

“Although the railways is asking to be paid the full value of the land, it is not willing to relinquish hold over it. But when the full value of the land is being paid, the question of lease for a period of 35 years as suggested by the ministry of railways does not arise. The transfer of land must be permanent, more so as the underground Metro will be built on this stretch. Once this is done, the land cannot be used for any other purpose at the end of the lease period,” contends a senior BMRCL official.

The corporation feels that if the railways still insists on leasing the land to it, then the Empowered Committee must be asked to look into the issue minutely so that it doesn’t face any problems in future. “Terms of land transfer should be clear so that there is no trouble after a few years of operations. Its important that the Empowered Committee looks into the impact of the lease on the financial and physical aspects of the project right now and factors in the risks and costs,” adds the official.

Price catch: What should Metro pay Railways?
The BMRCL and South Western Railway(SWR) are at loggerheads not just over the mode of land transfer for Metro Rail, but also over the manner in which land value has been worked out. While SWR has reportedly categorised the land as commercial and residential while fixing the value, Metro authorities want industrial rates to apply.

Land in MG Colony, one of the three sites Metro is eyeing, is classified as residential in the Master Plan 2015 of Bangalore Development Authority (BDA ) and was therefore valued at Rs 3,000 per sq. ft. But on the insistence of BMRCL the rate was revised to Rs 1,500 per sq ft before the land was handed over to it in 2010. The BMRCL however remains unhappy as it feels valuing the land in this manner is unfair when it is not intended to be used for residential purposes.

“We will use the MG Colony land only for industrial purposes, which is transportation of people. The guidance value of the land under industrial category is Rs 1500 per sq ft and therefore we should be charged only Rs 750 per sq ft for it,” says a senior BMRCL official, recalling that under state government guidelines it is required to pay only 50 per cent of the real value

A similar dispute has arisen over the STC site in the Majestic area. While the railways argue that the land, being in a prime and highly commercialised location, should be evaluated on the basis of commercial rates, BMRCL claims the area is classified as industrial and it can only be charged rates that apply to such an area. “Not only is this area classified as industrial by the government of Karnataka, but BMRCL too proposes to use it for industrial purposes - to transport people. The rate payable in this case too should be 50 per cent of the guidance value, which is Rs 9,600 per sq ft going by a state government notification of September 21, 2011,” contends the BMRCL official.

While a lot of properties along Platform Road are commercial, the BMRCL maintains that the narrow strip it is interested in is classified as a park and open space and so it can be charged only industrial and not commercial rates for it.