The executive committee of the Governor, which virtually functions as the State Cabinet in the absence of an elected government, deserves to be congratulated for finding what appears to be a viable solution to the vexed problem of regularisation of unauthorised sites and illegal buildings under the Sakrama scheme. The previous scheme notified by the coalition government had drawn a lot of criticism from the public, not only because it was unscientifically designed, but the penalties proposed were beyond the means of ordinary citizens. Loud protests from the public as well as intervention by the High Court has forced the  government to consider modification of the scheme.

Under the new scheme, in Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) limits, the regularisation fee for the 20 x 30 sites has been reduced from Rs 200 per sq mt to Rs 50 per sq mt and for 30 x 40 sites from Rs 400 per sq mt to Rs 160 per sq mt. However, the regularisation fee for larger sites remains unchanged. The penalty for violation of the building bylaws also remains the same as earlier. The executive committee, which accepted suggestions from citizens forums, rightly decided on offering major concessions to small site owners as the earlier proposal was found to be unaffordable by poorer sections of society. In another significant relief, the government has decided that the betterment fee paid by citizens to the local authorities before their merger with the BBMP, would be deducted from the regularisation fee if the relevant documents are furnished.

As the construction activities in urban areas, specially in fast-growing cities like Bangalore, Mysore and Mangalore, have gone beyond the control of civic authorities, the government was left with no choice but to bring in Sakrama (regularisation) to remove the uncertainties faced by the citizens and also earn valuable revenue for the BBMP and other civic bodies to take up the much-needed development of infrastructure. Considering that the original “green belt” only remains on paper, the govenment has also decided to apply the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) 2015 instead of CDP 1995 for the new regularisation scheme. The measure would help thousands of people who have built houses and commercial complexes in violation of earlier rules to get them regularised after payment of a fee. In addition, the revised CDP permits vertical growth by offering higher Floor Area Ratio (FAR) for construction in the central business area to accommodate the demand for space as well as density of population.