BDA to speed up site refunds

Bengaluru: The city development minister K. J. George and the BDA authorities, on Friday agreed to refund initial deposits paid to the BDA for seeking sites, within three months of finalizing the list of allottees at the Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout. Failing which, the BDA would have to pay interest at bank rates.

Rajajinagar MLA S. Suresh Kumar in a letter he dashed off to Mr. George on December 15, raised some objections including the rates fixed by the BDA for allotting sites at the Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout, stating that the prices of sites were exorbitant and on par with that of private builders.

Replying positively to the queries, Mr. George directed the BDA authorities to furnish evidence to support the fixing of site prices and to return the deposits within three months of issuing the final notification of the site allottees. Besides, the minister had agreed to resolve some of the issues raised by Mr. Kumar.

During the allotment of sites at layouts formed earlier, the BDA was taking more than three months to refund the money and the deposits were not fetching any interest to the unsuccessful bidders, Mr. Kumar stated.

The other issues that were resolved were greater accountability and transparency in the allotting of sites. The BDA had also agreed to revise and simplify the format of the applications which were said to be haphazard. The government and the BDA agreed to the starting of online registration of sites too.

Earlier, the BDA was reviewing the objections filed by the public and there was a suspicion that it was paving way for many unjustifiable acts. From now on, the objections will be reviewed by a committee that will be appointed by government, said Mr. Kumar.

The BDA has agreed to publish the details of the number of applications received, the amount collected by way of initial deposit and the registration fee. Further, the final list of successful allottees would be published within two months of the last day of receipt of the application.

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