Tuesday, June 8, 1999

Govt withdraws nod for DLF colony

BANGALORE, June 7 (DHNS)

Bowing to public pressure, the government today decided to withdraw permission given to Delhi Land and Finance Universal Limited (DLF) to construct the controversial housing complex on the banks of the Thippagondanahalli reservoir near here.

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting convened by Chief Minister J H Patel. The government order withdrawing the permission given by the previous Congress government would be issued after Cabinet approval of today`s decision, Minister of State for Bangalore City Development V Somanna told reporters.

The permission for building the housing project was given in 1991, which was later struck down by the Karnataka High Court. The DLF and the government filed separate appeals before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court in September 1998 gave the judgement reversing the High Court order and allowing the project subject to certain conditions.

Since then various public organisations started mounting pressure on the Patel government to withdraw the permission given to DLF as it posed a pollution threat to the Thippagondanahalli reservoir which supplied drinking water to Bangalore City.

The government, however, delayed the decision on the ground that legal issues needed to be examined as the Supreme Court itself had allowed the project.

Meanwhile, opposition against the project threatened to snowball into a major agitation with some of the ruling party leaders themselves, including Rajya Sabha member A Laxmisagar, criticising the government for inaction.

''So much was the opposition that everywhere I was heckled on this issue``, said Mr Somanna and added that he did not foresee any legal hurdle to withdraw the permission. He said the government was convinced that the project should not come up in the public interest. The government was prepared to pass legislation banning construction around Thippagondanahally reservoir if further legal complications came up in preventing the project, Mr Somanna said.

CAUVERY IV STAGE: The minister said all contracts for the implementation of Phase I of the Cauvery IV Stage water supply project were cleared and the work would start soon. The first stage involves works worth Rs.305 crore. The total cost of the IV Stage was around Rs.900 crore, Mr Somanna said.

He said sewage water treatment plants each with a capacity of treating 130 MLD water per day would be constructed at a cost of Rs.37 crore in order to stop the flow of sewage water into Vrishabhavati river.

MONITORING PANEL: Mr Somanna said a committee consisting of engineers and senior KAS officials would be appointed to keep a vigil on the quality of works under Municipal Bonds Scheme. The minister admitted that there was a delay in implementation of works under the scheme, but said it was inevitable as the government did not want to make any compromise on the quality.

He said work contracts for the proposed flyover near Hudson circle would be assigned to L&T and the one near Trinity Circle to Indian Railway Construction Corporation (Ircon). Both projects would be implemented on turn- key basis. Companies for works of proposed flyovers near Anand Rao Circle, K R Circle and Maharani College Circle would be selected within next 10 days, he said.

BDA PENALTY: The minister also said that the government would review the BDA regulations imposing a hefty fine on the owners of sites for not building houses on the sites within 10 years of allotment. He said many site owners could not build houses for genuine reasons.