BDA recovers ₹300 crore of encroached land in Bengaluru

The land was part of the 6 acres and 3 guntas acquired by BDA in 1988 to form the second stage of HBR Layout. HBR Layout here refers to Hennur Bellary Road Layout which is a major residential colony formed by BDA in northern Bangalore. It comes under Sarvagnanagar constituency.

In a major anti-encroachment drive, the Bangalore Development Authority’s (BDA’s) task force on Tuesday recovered land worth ₹300 crore in Nagawara area in the northern part of Bengaluru.

HT File

The land was part of the 6 acres and 3 guntas acquired by BDA in 1988 to form the second stage of HBR Layout. HBR Layout here refers to Hennur Bellary Road Layout which is a major residential colony formed by BDA in northern Bangalore. It comes under Sarvagnanagar constituency.

“One acre and 27 guntas was acquired for formation of the Ring Road and the balance 4 acres, 17 guntas had been kept to form the layout,” an official statement by BDA said, adding that this land was illegally acquired and sheds and a building were constructed.

“A five-storeyed building and some sheds were being constructed at the spot (Survey no. 75). We did not demolish anything, but took possession of our property,” a BDA officer said.

The statement released by BDA said that the operation was carried out by the BDA Task Force in the presence of Bangalore Development Authority commissioner G.C. Prakash. According to news reports, no arrest has been made in connection with the encroachment so far.

The recovery is reportedly the largest in BDA’s history in terms of land value. It was part of ‘The Operation Drive’ project, which started on Tuesday, and is aimed at recovering all encroached properties of BDA in Bengaluru valued at nearly ₹5,000 crore. According to some estimates, BDA has around 12,000 acres of land that has been encroached upon.