Kempegowda Layout work flounders, BDA set to miss another deadline

Bengaluru: Work on providing basic amenities at Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout (NPKL) is unlikely to be wrapped up by Nov 7, the deadline set by the petitions committee of the legislative assembly, site allottees at the layout developed by BDA said.
BDA officials were at the receiving end at the committee’s meeting last week.

With BDA commissioner N Jayaram remaining absent from the meeting, the authority’s engineer-member Shantarajanna had a tough time responding to the committee’s queries.Sources privy to the committee proceedings said the BDA officials were grilled over their failure to provide amenities at the layout they had developed in 2014-15.
“BDA officials were questioned about how many site allottees had constructed houses. The engineer-member answered that only 26 houses were built. That is 0.1% of the total sites allotted. During the last meeting of the committee, BDA assured us that they would complete all the work within 14 months. Today, the officials failed to give satisfactory answers on where they have completed the works,” committee member and MLA S Suresh Kumar told TOI. Site allottees said amenity works have been partially completed in only three blocks. BDA sources too confirmed this.
“The final deadline set by the committee for BDA is set to end in 5 months but most works are pending at all nine blocks of the layout. With no amenities, how can one build a dream home? Underground drain connections are absent and there is no tap water supply. Only a temporary electricity supply can be obtained. We don’t know when BDA will clear the mess,” said Surya Kiran AS, joint secretary of Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout Open Forum.
BDA commissioner N Jayaram told TOI, “I cannot comment on the meeting held by the petitions committee last week. At the next hearing, I will answer the committee’s queries. However, we are committed to completing the work soon. Work hasn’t stopped, we will clear all the hurdles.”
Due to the commissioner’s absence and BDA’s inability to provide clear answers, the committee decided to adjourn the hearing of the petitions.