Throughout a high-level assembly on Monday, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D Okay Shivakumar emphasised that the state is dedicated to buying 45-acre land close to Hebbal Junction for metro and tunnel street tasks.
Noting the strategic significance of Hebbal, a serious visitors bottleneck in Bengaluru, Shivakumar said, “Metro and tunnel roads are important right here, and we are going to purchase the mandatory land. We can not abandon these tasks for any purpose.”
The assembly addressed the contentious 45-acre land dispute, involving army and personal land, with plans for compensation by Transferable Improvement Rights (TDR) or Ground Space Ratio (FAR) changes. Whereas tenders for tunnel development are but to be issued, authorities have been directed to finalise designs, signalling progress regardless of authorized and historic hurdles.
Sources conversant in the assembly point out that the Bengaluru Metro Rail Company Restricted (BMRCL) and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) are prone to obtain the Hebbal land without charge, with enhanced FAR provisions, probably eliminating the necessity for direct compensation. A conclusive choice on the compensation framework is predicted to be finalised in forthcoming discussions.
The 45-acre parcel, a part of a 55-acre plot acquired by the Karnataka Industrial Areas Improvement Board (KIADB), has been on the coronary heart of a decades-long controversy.
This land, spanning roughly 55 acres and 13 guntas, positioned in Amanikere village, is vital for BMRCL’s plan to develop a state-of-the-art transport hub integrating three metro strains (together with the 36-km Hebbal-Sarjapur Orange Line), a suburban rail station, multi-level parking, and a metro depot, estimated to value Rs 28,405 crore.
The land was initially acquired by KIADB over a decade in the past for a tourism undertaking by Lake View Tourism Firm Ltd, which did not materialise. BMRCL has been in search of 45 acres and 5 guntas of this land since no less than March 2024, providing to pay Rs 551.15 crore on the KIADB-fixed price of Rs 12 crore per acre. In the meantime, BBMP, now headed by commissioner Maheshwara Rao, is in search of a portion of the land for Shivakumar’s 16 km tunnel roads undertaking connecting Hebbal and Silk Board junctions.
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The land is entangled in authorized complexities as a result of prior allocations and court docket orders. The earlier BJP authorities had issued an order permitting a personal organisation (the unique undertaking promoter) to implement its undertaking inside three years, complicating the switch to BMRCL. A court docket order additionally governs the land’s standing, and any unilateral switch dangers authorized challenges. In June 2023, KIADB demanded Rs 12.10 crore per acre from the non-public agency that had bought the land for the failed tourism undertaking, however fee stays pending, stalling the land’s repossession. Landowners who initially parted with their plots to KIADB haven’t been adequately compensated, including to the dispute.
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