Residents join hands, protest DC's diktat

Mysuru: Property owners in Kurubarahalli survey number 4, in East Mysuru, on Thursday took to the streets, urging the government to take a decision with regard to layouts coming under the survey number.
The residents of Siddhartha Nagar, the oldest residential area, KC Layout, JC Layout and Income Tax Layout teamed up by forming an organization - "Survey No.4 (Kurubarahalli) Hitharakshana Samiti" - to fight against the DC's order restricting them from making any transactions with regard to the properties there. Residents, for the first time, staged a protest by forming human chain at Sangolli Rayanna Circle. The roadblock on the busy stretch brought traffic to a grinding halt for nearly an hour.
Some of them have also knocked on the doors of the high court, which has ordered status quo. In the order passed a year ago, DC C Shikha had declared the land in the survey number belongs to the government. She restricted all transactions like issuing of building licence, transfer of khatas, payment of taxes and the sale of properties there. Residents are in trouble as officials have stopped all transactions till a decision is taken on the issue.
Shikha said that the land in survey number 4 is a government property. As residents have been allotted sites in layouts developed by Mysuru Urban Development Authority (Muda) there, and they have built houses in a part of the land marked as government property. "Muda has passed a resolution and sought urban development department authorities for a solution. I have written to the revenue department principal secretary and waiting for a direction," the DC explained.
The protest was led by association convener B P Manjunath, a BJP leader, and its member Mahadevamma, a BJP corporator.