The Good, Bad & Ugly of Real Estate in Malleswaram

One upon a time – perhaps not too long ago – Malleswaram was known for its big compounds and independent bungalows. Toady the landscape is liberally interspersed with apartment blocks, and the buildings have lost their charm of yesteryears. All kinds of apartments have proliferated in West Malleswaram for example. Some of the apartments are under lock and key - belonging to NRIs who have sold their plots to builders. According to someone closely associated with the real estate scene in M’waram, land sharks are on the prowl for old, dilapidated buildings, which they grab by offering fancy amounts. “Unlike in the west, in our country there is simply no restriction or qualification for a person to become a property developer, builder, etc. Since real estate in areas like Malleswaram fetches the maximum profits in minimum time, you have a lot of undesirable people entering this trade,” says a social worker of long standing in Malleswaram. Quoting an instance, he said a clerk in reputed developer’s office is now a  builder and is on the lookout for  properties. This person openly quotes the bribe rates for each construction and even manages  to collect them from the investors What is more, the violations are beyond imagination, he says. Residents are not aware that the Supreme Court in one of the case in Malleswaram came down heavily and ordered for demolition. Despite this precedent, people get fooled and are ready to invest on such high risk projects.

Another            builder            in Malleswaram is interested only in disputed properties irrespective of whether the property in question is subjudice or open to legal scrutiny. He is emboldened because in most cases it takes years for a dispute to be legally resolved. This builder has built very good rapport with officials. For instance, he got a building constructed in West Malleswaram without permission or sanction plan -because the period had lapsed and the original plan was itself not with the BMP says the social worker.

The’ social worker gives more examples of such unauthorised  structures in Malleswaram. A conservancy lane in Malleswaram has been converted into a garden without any questions asked by the BMP. Similarly, a park that is in dispute has been converted into a provision store and is doing roaring business.

Another builder tried to start a huge project on the bed of Sankey tank and created environmental problems. Alert citizens staged a strong protest, with the support of organizations such as Grahak Shakti. Taking on the might of such strong builders, this organisation” took the issue to the Lok Adalat and the Pollution Control Board.

“Due to ineffective laws and their ignorance, people are being deceived,” the social worker says. Citing an instance of how people get cheated, he revealed how a property owner in Malleswaram who was part of a joint venture disowned his participation after 15 years, and using his clout, usurped possession of the property. He not only gave sleepless nights to the purchaser, he also got the police on his side with his connections, he says. “The corrupt officials in the police station tip off every move of the genuine complainant to the crooks so that they are fully prepared for any eventuality,” he revealed. Stating that they are very powerful, he recalled how they got an Asst. Commissioner of Police transferred for doing his job (Venkatappa Naik) but in this case, the victim did not take it lying down and got back through the CAT.