No Proposal to Monetise 25,000 Acres around Bengaluru, Says Siddaramaiah Govt

The Karnataka government on Thursday denied reports it was considering monetising 25,000 acres of land around Bengaluru to fund its guarantee schemes, saying there was no such proposal.

"At the outset, there is no proposal to monetise 25,000 acres of land around Bengaluru as suggested in the news reports. It is the fundamental responsibility of the government to optimise resource mobilisation without putting undue burden on the citizens. Our state has greater potential to raise additional non-tax revenues from sectors such as mining, advertisements in urban areas, naming rights, etc. Better tax compliance is also another measure that is being explored. Some of the recommendations also include a limited extent of monetisation of non-strategic assets, but that does not have to mean disposal or outright sale of government lands," a government statement said.

There are several creative and intelligent ways to raise resources without selling government land and raising taxes, it added.

"The idle land parcels of the state government and other government entities, which are prone to encroachment, would be developed to generate a continuous stream of revenue to the state without selling these lands. Instead of an outright sale of public lands, innovative value-capture financing methods would be employed to generate revenue to the state which does not involve the outright sale of public assets. The various successful value capture financing methods deployed in other states and countries would be carefully studied and the best methods would be adopted in the state," the statement said.

It also said that the focus of the global consultant is on the rapid development of large industrial townships and urban amenities by tapping private investments. The Finance Department is looking into all the measures and any proposal to raise resources will be in the public domain once it is properly fleshed out. There is no reason for anyone to jump to hasty conclusions based on preliminary ideas that are on the table," the statement added.