K’taka govt announces major property, housing and civic reforms for B’luru citizens
Bengaluru: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Wednesday announced a series of citizen-centric initiatives for Bengaluru under what he described as the Congress government’s “sixth guarantee” — “Bhoo Guarantee” (land guarantee).
The announcements include distribution of e-Khata documents, concessions for converting ‘B’ Khata properties to ‘A’ Khata, relaxation in building violation limits, a one-time settlement scheme for unauthorised layouts, allotment of sites to Shivaram Karanth Layout landowners, a large-scale “Green Bengaluru” plantation drive, and the sale of BDA apartments.
Addressing a press conference at the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) headquarters, Shivakumar said nearly 150 development projects for Bengaluru were being planned and that more details would be shared in the coming days.
He announced that the “Nanna Khate, Nanna Hakku” (My Khata, My Right) campaign would begin on May 16 and continue every Saturday for three months.
Under the initiative, citizen open-house programmes on e-Khata issues will be organised at 50 locations across five municipal zones in Bengaluru.
“Each Saturday, programmes will be held at 10 locations in each of the five civic zones from morning till evening. The locations will be announced in advance,” he said.
Shivakumar said the government’s e-Khata initiative had become India’s largest integrated digital urban property records system, enabling more than 23 lakh property records to be delivered directly to citizens online.
He said approximately 16 lakh ‘A’ Khata properties and seven lakh ‘B’ Khata properties existed in Bengaluru.
“Through ‘Bhoo Guarantee’, every genuine property owner in Bengaluru will get secure, reliable and accessible digital property records. The old manual and unclear system has been transformed into a transparent and citizen-centric digital format,” he said.
The Deputy Chief Minister announced a major concession for property owners seeking conversion from ‘B’ Khata to ‘A’ Khata.
At present, applicants are required to pay 5 per cent of the guidance value as a conversion fee. However, those who complete payment within 100 days will have to pay only 2 per cent, amounting to a 60 per cent concession.
“For a property valued at Rs 1 crore, the owner earlier had to pay Rs 5 lakh. Now they need to pay only Rs 2 lakh. Around seven lakh property owners will benefit,” he said.
He added that applicants failing to avail themselves of the concession within 100 days would have to pay the original 5 per cent fee later.
According to Shivakumar, every property document would include GPS details and the owner’s photograph.
He said the system was designed to ensure corruption-free delivery of documents to citizens’ doorsteps and that records could also be downloaded online.
Information about the scheme would be communicated to households through WhatsApp and other media platforms in both Kannada and English, while the actual property documents would remain in Kannada, he said.