Land prices zoom in Arkavathy

BANGALORE: The Arkavathy plot thickens. Land prices in villages along the National Highway 7 have shot up — from Rs 18 lakh per acre to Rs 45 lakh in just one week. Reason: good and bad. The good news is that the government recently signed the concession agreement for the Devanahalli airport, which will be built near the area, and the bad news is that land developers are eyeing properties there after the government stalled the formation of Arkavathy layout.
This ‘land army'' is quoting higher prices to purchase the lands in the 16 villages like Dasarahalli, Amruthahalli, Srirampura, Kempapura, Jakkur, Venkateshapura, Bairathikhane, Challakere, Geddalahalli, Rachenahalli, K Narayanapura, Tanisandra, Hennur, Nagawara, Sampigehalli and Hebbal, coming under the proposed Arkavathy layout project.
The villagers who offered to sell their land to the BDA, are succumbing to the lure of the money. "Why would we want to sell our land for low price when we can get a better deal,'''' villagers questioned. And smart ones are putting up structures on their land to show that these were in existence even before BDA''s preliminary notification. BDA rules don''t permit acquiring pre-notified land with buildings.
"The villagers are using this loophole. Soon after the government stopped the tendering process, the disgruntled land owners started putting up zinc sheet sheds to show that the structures were in existence much before the issuance of preliminary notification,'''' BDA officials said.
The BDA''s compensation to the land owners is as follows: It has divided the 16 villages into four categories and fixed the compensation ranging from Rs 11 lakh to Rs 20 lakh based on the location.
Apart from the compensation amount, if a land owner gives up his land voluntarily without litigation, he will also be given a compensatory site for just 25 per cent of the cost. For lands ranging from half acre to one acre — compensation amount plus a 30 ft by 40 ft site will be given; for one acre - 60 ft by 40 ft site. A land owner will be given a maximum of 10 sites for his lands.
"Though developers tried to wean away farmers from selling the land to us, it was our vigil that kept them away. With the government putting a rider, the land developers are back with tempting offers to the villagers,'''' BDA sources said.