Favouring giant builders in the city, the BDA has allotted at least 11 Civic Amenity (CA) sites to them, throwing the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) rules to the wind. The CA sites have been allotted to major builders like Sobha, Mantri, Golden Gate Properties, Keystone Construction and Skylark Mansion at throwaway prices for three decades.
The purpose of a civic amenity site is to benefit the public and is usually allotted only to non-government organisations or Residents’ Welfare Associations. The credentials of NGOs are checked and they should have served at least five years in the public domain. Documents available with Deccan Chronicle show that since 2010, Sobha Developers has been granted nine CA sites. Golden Gate Properties has got two, and Keystone Construction, Mantri and Skylark Mansion one each.
CA sites must be used strictly for public purposes. In many cases, the NGOs have partially misused the CA sites and built commercial structures, which they claim fetch them the income to maintain the public space. One can only imagine how construction giants will misuse the CA sites for their own benefit, said Right To Information (RTI) activist B.M. Shivakumar. “What is the contribution of builders to society? Their activities are purely commercial and they make business by selling flats,” he said.
The former commissioner of BDA, Mr Siddaiah, had struck down the request for granting CA sites to builders. But the new commissioner, Bharat Lal Meena, is more amenable and the required government orders have been passed in favour of the builders, said sources. Mr Meena was not available for comment.