GBA issues 189 notices for vacant-plot cleanup in Bengaluru

At the launch of a clean-up drive in Domlur, Bengaluru development minister Krishna Byre Gowda said nearly 70% of the city’s vacant plots remain uncleared.

The Greater Bengaluru Authority has issued notices to 189 owners and will initially take up plots with e-khata records. This allows the authority to recover the cost of earth-moving equipment and waste transport to designated disposal sites through the property-tax system.

Gowda said the wider exercise will map vacant land that is not yet in the tax net and bring those properties into it over time. The revenue department estimates that Bengaluru has more than 3 lakh vacant sites.

The action is part of the city’s “freedom from waste” campaign. Agencies have cleared 1,22,732 metric tonnes of construction and demolition waste citywide so far. The GBA accounted for 67,152 tonnes and the BDA cleared 51,323 tonnes.

The authority said it will seek to recover clean-up costs from owners of plots with records that allow such levies. The drive follows the vacant-plot cleaning programme announced earlier this month.