16 years on, 1,110 beneficiaries yet to get free sites promised by BBMP

Bengaluru: Forty-year-old Anjaneyalu, a resident of Chandrappa Nagar, is among the 1,110 members of the SC and ST communities, who were identified as beneficiaries of a BBMP housing scheme almost sixteen years ago. 

The funds were earmarked but the lack of will to identify the required land ensured that the project — aimed at providing shelter for the economically deprived sections — remained on paper despite big talks. 

The "beneficiaries", who mostly live in slums, have been running from pillar to post but have received no help from the civic body. The announcement was made under BBMP’s Scheduled Caste Sub Plan (SCSP) and the Tribal Sub Plan (TSP). 

When the scheme was launched in 2008, the BBMP had identified the beneficiaries mostly residing in its South, West and RR Nagar zones. Some of them were pourakarmikas. Initially, the project remained in cold storage as the civic body could not identify the required land within the city limits. 

After a long delay and persistent efforts from pro-Dalit groups, the Revenue Department in 2015 provided a total of 29 acres of land, including 18 acres and 33 guntas in survey number 24 of Lakshmipura in Bengaluru North, 3 acres and 9 guntas in survey numbers 25 and 7 acres and 5 guntas in survey number 28 at Kengeri’s Agara. 

The Bahujana Vimochana Chaluvali, which has been putting up a united fight, said the BBMP had not implemented the scheme even after receiving the land.  

The district convenor for Bengaluru, S Gangadhara, said they had also met Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, asking his support. Shivakumar has reportedly written to BBMP Chief Tushar Girinath, instructing him to distribute the land at the earliest. 

Though the beneficiaries are seeing some hope in getting land after 16 years of wait, following the DCM’s intervention, some fear that the promises will only remain on paper. 

"People like me, who relied on government promises over the years, have been spending years in rented houses, keeping my family members’ hopes high on getting government land,” said Anjaneyalu, adding that despite DCM’s intervention, the BBMP is not prioritising the needs of backward communities. 

The BBMP's RR Nagar Zonal Commissioner, Suralkar Vikas Kishor, said that the project got delayed as the land was falling outside the BBMP limits. "Now the land has been brought under our limits. We have held a lot of meetings in the last six months to revive the project and hand over the sites to the beneficiaries," he noted and added that the land is also expedited for further developments before distributing it.