BENGALURU: Taking into account the demand for litigation free property, the BDA had planned to provide Rs 1.7 lakh by finalizing five layouts surrounding the city. But now the BDA may not be in a position to form four of those five planned layouts.

This is a fallout of the recent amendment to the land acquisition act 2013. The new act has scuppered the ambitious project.

Senior officials at BDA have expressed their inability to form housing layouts because of the high land acquisition price for the land acquired from farmers.

The new act prescribes that in rural areas the farmers will be eligible for compensation four times over and above the prevailing market rates. In urban areas the land acquisition authority will have to shell out double the guidance value, said sources.

BDA is a non-profit government organization and has been forming and allotting sites without profit. But fixing of exorbitant prices for land acquisition is an obstacle for BDA to take up land for any further layouts.

The four other layouts except Nadaprabhu Kempegowda layout will now have to be dropped. Shivaram Karanth Layout, D. Devaraj Urs, Kyasam bahalli Changalaraya Reddy and S. Nijalingappa layouts can no longer be formed, added sources.

Since the BDA has already issued compensation to farmers ranging from Rs 80 lakh to Rs 1 crore, the civic body hopes that it can complete the proposed Kempegowda layout formation. It will be a difficult task, they admit.

The BDA has planned to carve out 30,000 sites. With this, the Kempe Gowda layout aims to provide a housing facility for at least 1.5 lakh citizens, said sources.

Kodihalli Chandrashekar, president of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, said that the new land acquisition act has brought a smile on the faces of farmers.

The rural farmers will get four times the market value of their property, while the urban farmers will get double the market rate for their property, if acquired for any purpose, he said.

The companies or promoters wanting to set up plants or industries, he added, must buy property from farmers and the government should not mediate. However, there is a need to bring in amendments to the Act.