BENGALURU: Property owners affected by Bangalore Development Authority’s (BDA) decision to hike taxes are wondering where the question of collecting maintenance cost arises when the authority has already collected development charges at the time of plot sale and yet failed to provide amenities later.
Riled, they are now planning to submit a representation to the chief minister, seeking a rollback of the decision.
BDA has claimed that maintenance fees are being collected to maintain the area and take up further development activities.
The hikes are slated to garner additional revenue of Rs 21 crore annually.
However, residents are demanding the BDA come out in the open about how it utilised the money they had paid after the sites were allotted to them.
Ashok M, secretary of Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout Open Forum, said, “We paid nearly Rs 12.2 lakh to register the site and thousands of crores of rupees have been collected from phase one and two, but in none of these areas are we seeing any kind of development work.
What has happened to that money?” “The money that they collected upfront includes a category called ‘development charges’.
Where did that money go? Maintenance cost can only be collected after providing facilities,” he added.
According to the forum, Rs 2,000 crore was collected for completing Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout in 2018.
Now, BDA has claimed that it will complete it by this year-end.
The BDA began allotting sites in the layout from 2016, without even providing basic facilities to enable the construction of houses.
While by 2017, sites in the layout were registered in favour of buyers, they were to be handed over by 2018.
The situation of those who have constructed houses in some of the BDA layouts is even worse.
Brinda Srinivasan, 48, and Shanthanarasimha, 52, have had a tough time since they were allotted a site in Banashankari Stage VI two decades ago.
The couple told TOI that they hoped to start construction of their house on the plot in one or two years, assuming BDA would provide basic infrastructure by then.
But their hopes remain just that even after two decades.
“We waited for 10 years, but there was no change in the situation.
We were paying tax for the site, EMI for the loan we raised to buy the plot and rent for the house we lived in.
Eventually, we decided to build a house in the allotted site in 2013 and moved in.
To this day, we do not have water and sanitary connections.
Streetlights are missing and there is no semblance of garbage disposal.
We depend on a borewell for water.
About 85% of plots are lying vacant without any construction.
If someone has constructed a house, it is only because of an inevitable situation (in terms of financial condition),” they said.
Affected lotThe enhanced maintenance fee and property tax will apply to about one lakh sites in Anjanapura Layout, Banashankari Layout, Sir M Visveshwaraiah Layout, Arkavathi Layout and Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout, besides corner sites in various parts of the city.