Bengaluru: 57-year-old loses land after paying property tax for 7 years

BENGALURU: Mr N.T. Govindaiah, who is 57 years old now, waited for over two decades before realising his dream of owning a BDA site. But the alleged apathy of BDA authorities and denotification demon have snatched his precious piece of land!

He was elated when he was allotted a 30x40 ft BDA site at Sampigehalli in Arkavathy 2nd Block. He diligently paid property tax for his site number 207 for seven years. But he was in for a shock when he went to pay tax for 2013-14. The BDA revenue authorities at the R.T. Nagar office told him that the site did not exist anymore and he had to wait for “some more time”.

“Can anybody imagine that the site, for which I had paid property tax for seven years, has suddenly disappeared? I had invested my hard earned money to buy this site, with the belief that the BDA site would be free of litigation. I have the sale deed, allotment letter, khata and possession certificates, but no site,” he said.

He rushed to the BDA head office on Kumara Krupa Road, seeking clarification, but the authorities told him that his site has been denotified to compensate the land losers. “I want to know where my site has gone,” he asked.

He filed an RTI application, but was not satisfied with the reply. “Even the deputy secretary 3 did not give a convincing answer,” he said. “I wanted to build a house and live peacefully, but I decided to wait for sometime as civic amenities, like roads, underground drainage system and electricity, had not been provided to the area,” he said.

Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) Secretary Kanthraj said that some site allottees have been affected due to the denotification of land to compensate the farmers. “But they will be given alternative sites,” he said.