Realty Housing

On August 24th 2012, the Karnataka High Court, in a major verdict, has instructed Maverick Holdings, a construction company, to build 1512 flats in 24 months for the original allottees at the economically weaker section (EWS) colony in Ejjipura. A group of allottees from the original 1512 beneficiaries waiting outside the High Court for the verdict. Pic: Sankar C G. The decision came on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by 13 original allottees of the flats to be built at the EWS colony. The original allottees went to High Court after facing the prospect of unauthorised settlers at the…

Since 2002, we - owners of L&T South City apartment - have been waging a long battle against our apartment's builder L&T and land owner Dinesh Ranka. (Citizen Matters had reported on this here.) We have been running from pillar to post - going to police stations, holding protest marches, filing cases in City Civil Courts, High Court and Consumer Courts. Now, a complaint filed by our association SUGRUHA (South City Group Housing Apartment Owners' Association) at the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in August has made an impact. CCI is a central government body to ensure fair play by businesses…

Maverick Holdings and BBMP signed a concessionaire agreement on 2 January, 2012, clearing the deck for the construction of 1,640 Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quarters at Ejipura. This is coming after a protracted legal battle that lasted nine years. The agreement was signed between Uday Garudachar of Maverick and BBMP Engineer in Chief BT Ramesh. Pic: Vijayalakshmi P But the residents still do not know where they will be relocated when the construction starts. Neither the BBMP nor Maverick has informed them about the relocation plans. And on January 14, Shantinagar MLA NA Harris had a shocking request to make…

JP Nagar resident M Srinath had relinquished his property in Jayanagar 8th block for Metro construction last year. The property was part of BDA layout, and was supposed to measure 1500 sq ft.During the acquisition, KIADB (Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board) which was in charge of the acquisition, had got the city survey department to measure the land. The department found that the property in fact measured 1530 sq ft.KIADB assured Srinath that he would compensation for the entire 1530 sq ft if he managed to get a letter from the BDA. "I do not plan to pursue it with…

The Vidyapeeta ITI layout in Kathriguppe relinquished four parks to BDA as per layout plan sanction regulations. But instead of handing over these parks to BBMP for maintenance, BDA granted two parks to private parties; none of the four sites are parks now. The layout residents have been fighting for proper use of these sites since 1995. In HAL 2nd stage, BDA leased out a CA site of 21,900 sq ft to Indiranagar Social Welfare Trust in 1991. The lease was for 30 years on annual rent of Rs 2, on the condition that the Trust would build educational institutions…

Property values in the city are set to rise with hike in guidance value. Guidance values are expected to go up by 30-100% this year (minimum of 30% within core areas and maximum of 100% in outskirts); rates would go up by more than 200% in outer areas like those near Peripheral Ring Road, since the market rates here have rocketed since the last revision. The previous hikes were in 2007, 2005, 2004 and 2002. During the 2007 hike, the value of residential, commercial and industrial properties were hiked by 50%, 60% and 25% on average.Officials at the Department of…

Bangalore has many residential projects coming up for occupancy this year, and the most popular location seems to be South Bangalore. Citizen Matters got details of around 45 new projects from a property bazaar organised by realtor Magicbricks.com last month in the city. In addition to popular builders, lesser-known companies are also introducing many projects. Most projects are located in the outer limits of the city. Many new residential projects are coming up this year in South Bangalore. Pic: Navya P K Of all projects, 11 are located along Hosur Road. While many of them are coming up near Hosur…

In a desperate bid to provide a playground for more than 700 children living in L&T South City, residents of the apartment complex in Mico-Arakere Layout on 19th March hired a bulldozer to level a part of the 5.5 acre land that was meant to be developed as a playground. The layout is located off Bannerghatta Road roughly opposite IIM-Bengaluru.  No cricket match, this one. Hulimavu Police had a brush with residents of L&T South City on Mar 19. Pic: SUGRUHA. The event witnessed high drama as Hulimavu police, BDA officials and officials from even the BBMP were at the…

After Citizen Matters expose on BBMP quietly shutting down the Technical Vigilance Cell's (TVC) call centre last year, very little has happened to remedy the situation. The cell that earlier used to accept complaints from the public directly regarding building violations, now monitors only public works as directed by the Commissioner. But Commissioner Siddaiah told Citizen Matters that he has appointed Technical Advisor B T Mohan Krishna to look into building violations. Complaints that the commissioner receives from the public will be forwarded to Krishna, he says. "He will co-ordinate with the TVC also for this," Siddaiah said. Krishna took…

The committee set up by the state government to review the zonal regulations in the Revised Master Plan (RMP- 2015), submitted their recommendations on October 15.Three committees were originally set up - one to review Bengaluru's building byelaws and two to examine the negative aspects of ZR. During the reviews it was felt that since the ZR anchor the building byelaws, it would be best if the review of these regulations were done first; then once the government decided on these recommendations, the building byelaws could be suitably amended as well. The review committee that submitted its recommendations on zoning…