Bengaluru: After flagging 258 unauthorised layouts across its jurisdiction in its bid to curb illegal urban sprawl, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) is rolling out a series of public interest notices aimed at educating citizens about lawful construction and planning practices. Officials said 20-30 notices will be issued, detailing key aspects such as what qualifies as a layout, mandatory approvals, the authorities empowered to grant permissions, and the jurisdictional limits of various bodies.The awareness drive, likely to begin from Budigere and surrounding areas, comes amid rampant conversion of agricultural, green belt, and valley lands into plots. BDA warned that such sites are vulnerable to demolition, urging buyers to verify approvals before investing.BDA chairman NA Harris said: “Illegal layouts cannot be formed. Buyers must verify approvals from BDA or other authorities, and only after development is complete do we release the right to sell. We wanted to inform people and warn them that sites without proper documents should never be purchased, as unauthorised sales carry no legal validity.”A survey carried out by a team of BDA officials last year identified 278 unauthorised settlements and layouts across its jurisdiction and warned citizens against investing in them. According to data as on Jan 28, these are spread across Bengaluru East, South, and North zones, covering taluks such as Yelahanka, Anekal, and Jigani. As per the data, most of the agricultural land was converted into residential plots without statutory approvals. Many sites, despite having roads, drains, and power poles, fall in the agricultural green belt, making them ineligible for A-khata and prone to future demolition.A senior official said: “These layouts were largely formed on agricultural land without approvals, disrupting planned development. The state govt is framing guidelines under which panchayat and GBA authorities may consider conversion from B to A-khata through a defined procedure. With stricter khata norms now in place, such violations are unlikely to recur, and buyer interests are better protected compared to earlier years.“But activists are warning that govt amnesty on B to A-khata conversions risks legitimising poorly planned, unauthorised layouts while leaving buyers and civic planning vulnerable.R Rajagopalan, convener, Bengaluru Coalition, said: “With the recent B-Khata to A-Khata conversion amendment, the current administration is once again granting blanket amnesty to illegal layouts. With near zero enforcement, these unplanned concrete jungles were allowed to mushroom for a couple of decades. While conversion fees are meant to provide roads, drains, streetlights, and civic amenities, chaotic, poorly planned layouts make post-occupancy provisioning extremely difficult, low conversion rates risk compromising redevelopment, and the blanket amnesty seems designed more to bypass the Supreme Court judgment against unauthorised construction over a year ago than to improve planning. BDA must submit a representation for a dedicated corpus for conversion funds, publish a redevelopment plan for these layouts, and ensure proper enforcement.” Growing menaceTaluk Illegal sitesBengaluru East79Bengaluru South58Yelahanka49Anekal93 Source: BDA
