Demolitions have been making news every other week, looks like BBMP is going to keep their razors up even after the rains are gone.
Papers report today (online link unavailable) that BBMP is set to demolish parts of the club-house of Koramangala National Games village. It was reported earlier that the club-house was situated atop Raja Kaluve.
I found this news report - Portions of nine buildings demolished in Puttenahalli - interesting for the last paragraph it carries.
He (BBMP Deputy Commissioner Mr M A Sadiq) said more than 18 months of efforts had gone into the exercise. “Following the 2005 deluge in the city, we took up a revenue survey of 29 tanks and identified 705 illegal structures on all the 29 Raja Kaluves of the tanks,” he added.
Good job BBMP, and hope you will deal with all 705 of them, but 18 months for doing this survey, and action only now after the flooding happened yet again? Well, lets keep the positive spirit though and say better late than never.
Now about the newspapers, how nice to see them "wake up" to these realities now.
Matters of corruption in our daily lives, of which these encroachments are a visible example - I sometimes wonder how these get under-reported in our newspapers. Purchasing property and making half the payments in 'black', dosa and paani-puri gaadis paying up to keep their businesses alive, folks at RTO asking you to buy Indira Vikas Patra or alike at times, cheating and irregularities at Petrol Bunks - I mean you can go and and on to find examples and such.
Not that we expect main stream media to swing some magic wand and clean it all up - these are complicated issues to tackle. But I am surprised at abysmally low level of reporting as far as corruption is concerned. Each of these papers could run a full age everyday to report these incidents, isn't it. But seems like they don't. Why so?
Is it because like us, the media too has come to live with it, and takes these incidents for granted? Or does the fear of liability and credibility - possible legal hassle - haunt them? I don't know. But I do find it baffling - so much reporting on politics, entertainment and sports, but so little (relatively speaking) on things that touch our daily lives.
ಪ್ರತಿಕ್ರಿಯೆಗಳು
Mediamen too are human, with all human weaknesses
structure....
structure....
detouring
going local...
50/50: 2 stories
Undervalued properties come under scanner S. Kushala, ToI edition oct 18th, 2007 Bangalore city’s property horizon is never calm. The stamps and registration department has discovered that thousands of property owners have cheated the department by undervaluing their properties and registering it for meagre amounts. With under-valuation of properties and false declaration in registration deeds becoming rampant, the department has started cracking its whip. It has begun issuing notices to building owners/developers who have undervalued their properties during registration. Some 1,000 notices have already been issued for cases from 1997 till date. Owners have been directed to present their documents and pay up amounts corresponding with the market value, said officials. The market value is always at least 40% higher than the guidance value fixed by the stamps and registration department. Yet the property value declared by owners is invariably much lower than the amount they would have paid the developer. Residential properties, especially high-end apartments and villas and commercial complexes have come under the scanner of stamps and registration department. According to the rules, documents such as sale deeds, gift deeds, exchange of properties, settlement, reconstitution of partnership, general power of attorney and lease to right come under the ambit of undervaluation department. “We are expecting recovery of huge amounts through this exercise. Last year, in Gandhinagar zone alone, we recovered Rs 30 lakh from undervalued properties. Since we are also looking at old cases, the pendency levels will come down,’’ explained a district registrar. Also, the department is looking at cracking false declaration cases where details of additional amenities like club, swimming pool, gym, supermarkets are concealed by the developer in the registration papers to avoid stamp duty on them. The recovery may run into hundreds of crores, especially with the revision of guidance value, which is on par with the market value. The officials take up such cases on two counts - cases referred by the sub-registrar to the district registrars and cases taken up suo-moto by the district registrars. Suo-moto cases have to be taken up within two years of the property registration. In both cases, notices are issued to the erring property owners and proceedings are initiated to recover the stamp duty. How do they identify erring properties? Authorities do a random check of the documents and pick cases where the registered value is abysmally low. Undervaluation cases are rampant in areas such as Gandhinagar, Basavangudi, Jayanagar, Vijaynagar, Bangalore eastern parts - where the housing industry is booming — and in central parts. They issue notices to owners asking them to produce a copy of the original agreement papers between the seller and the buyer. Irregularity can be identified if the amount mentioned in the registered document and the agreement papers differ. The stamp duty for properties in BBMP limits is 8.4% and for those outside BBMP jurisdiction is 8.5%. The registration fee is one per cent of the declared value.