BJP protest against sale of proposed taluk complex land

Udupi: The Brahmavar unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party held a protest here, on July 25.

Addressing the protesters, former MLA Raghupathi Bhat said that during the BJP-led government’s rule under the leadership of former chief minister Jagadish Shettar in 2013, taluk status was announced to Brahmavar. “The taluk formation dream has been nurtured from the past 25-30 years and Rs 2 crore was set aside for the purpose. But the taluk status was withdrawn by the Congress-led state government on the first day of its functioning. This has caused injustice to the residents.

Bhat further said that the ruling Congress government had sold six acres of land out of the 13.20 acres that had been set aside for the taluk complex. The complex would have comprised of the administrative buildings. The land was earmarked for the administrative building during the 90s and 13.20 acres of land was reserved at Indiranagar.

“The Congress has handed over six acres of land to the Karnataka Housing Board and has indulged in real estate businesses. This shows that the government has dropped the proposal of forming the taluk. The Housing Board has purchased the land paying Rs 1.80 crore, which means that it has paid Rs 30,000 per cent of the land. The Housing Board had earlier mentioned that the buyer should purchase the land at the rate of Rs 2.30 lakh per cent.”

It has turned out to be a true real estate business. The layout of 5.34 cents is being offered as a single site,” Bhat claimed. He demanded that the government should offer land to the Housing Board in the interior area and the land which is already handed over should be taken back and kept aside for the purpose of the Brahmavar taluk complex.

When a reporter asked the district minister Pramod Madhwaraj about the land, he replied that the sale of land had not come to his notice. “I will discuss it with the housing board, said Madhwaraj.