By: Ravi Sinha
Track2Realty Exclusive
Land mafia has surfaced in the twin cities of Hubli and Dharwad of Karnataka in a big way. They are converting agricultural lands into residential plots without the CLU (Change of Land Use) and other required approvals from the concerned authorities and are selling to gullible people. These Land grabbers have set their eyes on the large tracks of agricultural lands cheaply available on the outskirts of Hubli and Dharwad, leading to the mushrooming of several unauthorised layouts in the twin cities.
Hubli Dharwad Urban Development Authority (HDUDA) commissioner R N Shanbag admitted this reality to the Track2Realty and said that such illegal layouts have come up mostly on the outskirts near Kelageri, Muruga Mutt, Hubli-Dharwad bypass road and elsewhere.
Since buying agricultural lands from the farmers is not an easy task, the unauthorized land developers take the power of attorney from farmers before converting the land into residential plots. Legally while a developer is allowed to convert only 55 per cent of the total land into residential plots, the unauthorized developers take maximum utilization of the lands.
These unauthorized developers are sparing no space for even gardens, parks and other civic amenities. They construct roads which are just 15-20 feet wide, instead of 25 feet that is mandatory. More and more people are falling prey to such unauthorized layouts because of cheap rate sites. While a legitimate site measuring 30×40 sq ft site is rated at Rs 4-5 lakh, the unauthorized developer quotes Rs 2-3 lakh for the same measurement site.
Shanbag has warned the unauthorized builders to remove the development works in such illegal layouts within a week or to face legal action. The public has been asked to properly verify the documents pertaining to survey number, NA approval, approved layout plan from the urban development authority, clearance certificate, and transfer letter of layout to the local body and other details before purchasing sites.
HDUDA is planning to form a task force involving the revenue department, HDMC, HDUDA along with other concerned government agencies to check the illegal layouts.
