Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (HB/SP)

Udupi, Apr 18: Prabhakar Nayak, a daily deposit collection agent of Canara Bank owns 1.5 acres of land in Puttur village here. He says he has been seeking issuance of no objection certificate (NOC) from the town planning authority (TPA) for the construction of a house over ten cents of his land here. His present house, which is in a bad condition, is also located in a corner of the same land.

According to the town planning map, survey number 103/2A1P2 owned by him comes under Udupi-Malpe Master Plan-Revised 1 which came to be implemented in the year 2008. In respect of the plan, his 1.5 acres of land had been considered as green area and fertile land.

Prabhakar argues that as many as 20 local residents, who applied for NOCs at the same time, have got permission for land conversion. The Udupi Town Planning Authority (TPA) rejected his appeal for land conversion in March 2015 after which authorities issued a clarification on rejection of proposal. He got to know of this from town planning officials Jithesh and Subrahmani while on a spot visit, he claims.

Initially, he says he had sought the help of a commission agent named Damodar Nayak, but now he is all set to fight the TPA Udupi. Some ten days ago, he complained to the Lokayukta about these developments. Nayak also sought the support of former MLA Raghupati Bhat, who he said, has promised to solve the problem soon. He opined that political leaders, tahsildar, assistant commissioner etc are involved in the land acquisition scandal.

Speaking to daijiworld, Raghupati Bhat said that the matter will be taken up during the next CDP review meeting to be held after six months. He assured that the issue would be sorted out.

Janardhan Tonse, chairman, Town Planning Authority, said, “Land conversion procedure is not possible in one day. I convinced him and according to the KPCT Act there is a provision to change the green zone mark. There is a strict order that a master plan should be revised every ten years. I agree that the map prepared by previous officers are unfair and unjust.

"Before marking the green area, the department publishes in the newspapers seeking objections from the public, but there is no special provision to send personal intimations to particular land owners. This would have created anxiety in the land owner," Tonse said, adding that he had met Nayak personally and suggested that he should build a new house after demolishing the old one.

According to Subrahmani, a TPA official, there is a special provision as per which the land owner has the right to get the reserved land demarcated if the authority has not utilized the acquired land for public purpose. "First we go for newspaper notification, then discuss in the meeting after that we will send to to the government. The entire process needs 2-3 months," he explained. However Subrahmani got confused when trying to figure out the actual land.

Prabhakar Nayak says that there is a builder's land close to his property. "Why did the government mark my land instead of other empty sites?," he wants to know.

T Manjunathaiah, CMC commissioner said, "We have suggested to him to apply for renovation of old home, but Nayak is not ready to agree. It is not our fault," he said. He insisted that the officials have been working strictly as per the guidelines of the government.

The review process of master plan will take nearly six months. In this background, a question about how some local residents succeeded in getting the license for conversion after the 2008 master plan acquires relevance. Why is the authority denying approval of the NOC to a particular person is also an issue that is fit to be probed.