The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will heave a sigh of relief as the defence ministry has finally agreed to part with army land to enable completion of pending infrastructure works across the city.
The defence ministry sent a letter with conditions to BBMP commissioner N Manjunath Prasad oAn Tuesday, agreeing to transfer lands in 8 locations for various infrastructure works. The letter states, “The ministry of defence accorded working permission for transfer of defence lands to the BBMP for infrastructure developments in eight locations with certain conditions.”
The defence land measuring 11.17 acres will be permanently transferred to the BBMP in exchange of equal value land (EVL) offered by the civic body. According to the BBMP officials, soon the BBMP will hold a programme to officially swap the lands.
The land swap was agreed upon by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at a meeting in Bengaluru on August 4, 2018. At least 10 projects, including road widening and flyovers, are either half-constructed or have been in limbo for several years, as defence agencies have refused to part with their land.
The BBMP requires 16.52 acres of defence land for various projects.
207 acres for defence
The state government has agreed to transfer 207.29 acres of land in and around Bengaluru worth Rs 488.42 crore to the defence ministry, which will part with 16.52 acres in the city worth Rs 282 crore.
PROJECT NAME AND AREA REQUIRED
*Ejipura Inner Ring Road to Sarjapur Main Road: 5.34 acre
* Construction of road connecting NH-7 up to Sanjeevini Nagar in ward 7, Byatarayanapura: 0.94 acre
* Construction of road up to Hebbal Sarovara layout via Amco Layout: 0.50 acre
* Widening of existing Hosur-Lashkar Road: 2.63 acres
* Widening of Lower Agaram Road from Hosmat Hospital to 1st Main, Viveknagar: 0.42 acre
* Widening of Lower Agaram Road near Butchery: 0.08 acre
* Alternative road from Kaval Byrasandra Main Road to Modi Garden, DJ Halli: 1.14 acres
Construction of slip road as part of the elevated corridor along 100 ft Inner Ring Road Koramangala: 0.12 acres
Past precedent
In Aug 2018, 207.29 acres of land at Chamanayakhnahalli near Anekal was swapped with the Defence Ministry for 10 infrastructure projects in the city.