In a move that will have far-reaching ramifications, the Urban Development Department is set to legalise change of land use across the state. The relaxation of existing stringent laws will be a money-spinner for the political class which is getting ready for the election year. Principal Secretary Amitha Prasad, who heads the department, has called for a meeting of all the stake-holders at Vikasa Soudha on Thursday to introduce a set of new guidelines which will be appended as an annexure to the existing Sec 14 (a) of the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act (KTCP), and will empower officials to issue change of land use without any impediment. Sources in the state secretariat told Deccan Chronicle that the officialdom has come under severe pressure from the political class as hundreds of files seeking change of land use from agricultural to
industrial/commercial are on hold at the BMRDA office. Senior IAS officers who head departments connected to the development have admitted during several deliberations that they are helpless as they cannot go against their political bosses.