‘BBMP prime property sold at throwaway price’
The JD(S) and Congress which governed the city between 2001-02 and 2006-07.
Bangalore: The JD(S) and Congress which governed the city between 2001-02 and 2006-07, were responsible for the BBMP’s poor financial position, alleged Yediyur BJP corporator N.R. Ramesh who claimed that an earlier Congress government had sold Divyasree Chambers BBMP’s prime property worth Rs 250 crore, for just Rs 48 lakh.
Defending the BJP governed BBMP’s recent move to pledge a few of its properties, Ramesh told reporters that the Palike had only mortgaged properties that can be taken back. But the Congress ruled city corporation (when Kuppaswamy was mayor) in previous years, had sold property keeping other corporators in the dark, he claimed.
The property measuring 2.1 acres was taken up for development with a contractor, Shyamaraju and Company, on cost sharing formula of 40:60 by BBMP. Shockingly, the BBMP sold the property for Rs 48 lakh citing a financial crisis, when the property was earning Rs 27 lakh per month.
Though a resolution to this effect was passed in 1993, the sale deed was executed after 12 years for the same price. Former commissioner K. Jairaj allegedly gave General Power of Attorney (GPA) to a third party to execute the sale deed, which itself is a criminal offence, Ramesh said, adding that BBMP passed a resolution after its term came to an end in 1995 and the property was worth Rs 50 crore then.
Giving GPA to a third party, Gadiar, gives rise to suspicion about an unauthorized transaction. The property was sold at Rs 1.20 crore but the BBMP’s share was just Rs 48 lakh. The Congress government which was then in power, too sold as many as 936 properties at throwaway prices, the corporator asserted.
Interestingly, although BBMP passed a resolution to sell the property to Shyamaraju and Company, it was finally sold to Indus Entrepreneurs and the sale deed was executed at the Shivajinagar sub-registrar office, said Ramesh.