Yet another road-widening project in Bengaluru has hit a roadblock as residents and shop owners raise the flag against BBMP’s Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) scheme.

TDR scheme has come in for more fire. This time, shop owners, tenants, and residents of Tannery Road in East Bangalore are protesting against the road-widening work ordered by BBMP in their area.

Tannery Road - Nagavara Owners/ Merchants Association office bearers and members, with Legislative Council Chairman Veeranna Mattikatti and guests at the Republic Day 2010 celebrations. Pic: Karunya Keshav.

“We are not opposing road widening. We oppose TDR,” says Ahmed Baseer, property owner and Karnataka Shop owners’ Association President, speaking for the protestors.

The TDR scheme being pushed by BBMP allows property owners affected by road-widening works, to be compensated with the right to own built-up area that is one and half times the area lost.

However, according to the local merchants, TDR remains nothing but “a piece of paper,” which is far from sufficient. Instead, the protesters led by Tannery Road and Nagavara Owners/ Merchants Association and the Karnataka Rakshana Seva Samiti are asking for cash compensation for affected property owners.

“I’m asking them (BBMP) to divide the cash compensation, 75 per cent  to owners and 25 per cent to tenants,” says Baseer. “I want social security for the people of the area,” he adds.

Currently, tenants are not covered under the TDR scheme, since the Development Rights Certificate (DRC) provided by BBMP remains with the owners, either to keep, build or sell to other developers. The prevailing sentiment is that tenants, many of whom have taken bank loans for their businesses, will face harassment by the banks if their livelihood is curtailed.

Ahmed Baseer, property owner and Karnataka Shop owners’ Association President. Pic: Karunya Keshav.

The Owners/ Merchants Association is asking for the  same rate of compensation offered to commercial property owners displaced by the Metro. With soil testing having been done in the area in preparation for a later phase of the metro, the shop owners believe they have a right to the same level of monetary compensation.

Tannery Road widening plans

Tannery Road is one of the roads in Bangalore identified by BBMP for road-widening work. This crowded 5 km stretch from the Fraser Town railway bridge to Outer Ring Road is along the route to BIAL Airport.

According to local sources, the width of the road is to be doubled, to 80 feet. Shops and residences on both sides of the road, including the famous Tannery Road meat shops, hardware stores, and road-side tailors, are slated for demolition.

The first round of demolition took place on December 3rd 2009 when Corporation property was razed to the ground. A neighbouring building, also belonging to the Corporation and housing a number of shops – meat shop, bakery, tea/ snacks stall, provision stores, was half destroyed before the protesters got the demolition to be put on hold.

These protests are along the same lines as the ones at JP Nagar. In the case of widening at Mysore Road – Central Silk Board Corridor, work has been completely stopped, following the intervention of Transport Minister R. Ashoka. Then, the minister had said, “If there are objections, work will stop.” Despite several attempts, Ashoka could not be reached for comment for this story.

Karunya Keshav is a multimedia journalist and writer based in Bangalore.

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