Curation Team
BENGALURU: Owners of around 6.5 lakh unauthorised properties in gram panchayats across three districts around Bengaluru will be eligible for e-khatas under the govt’s ambitious e-Swathu initiative, which aims to provide legal documentation for over 95 lakh illegal properties across the state.
Data from the rural development and panchayat raj (RDPR) department shows that about 2.8 lakh properties in Bengaluru Urban and 1.8 lakh each in Bengaluru Rural and Bengaluru South districts are eligible for e-khatas under the e-Swathu programme. The govt launched the initiative last week.
Data shows some 8.2 lakh properties in Bengaluru Urban district of which approximately 5.4 lakh properties already have e-khatas, while 2,77,317 properties have been listed by the department for regularisation. This will bring them into the property tax net.
Similarly, there are over 4 lakh properties in Bengaluru Rural district, covering north-east, north and north-west parts of the city, of which nearly 2.2 lakh have e-khatas. Over 1.8 lakh properties are eligible for e-khatas.
Bengaluru South district, which borders the city in the south and south-west parts, has over 3.4 lakh properties, with only around 1.5 lakh properties having e-khatas.
Since the state govt has mandated e-khata for property transactions including registration a year ago, property owners need to obtain e-khata even to avail bank loans against the property.
Mandakini K, a nursing professional from Hesaraghatta, said the e-Swathu initiative is a great relief as she was unable to register a release deed after she cleared a bank loan due to the absence of the e-khata.
“I bought a residential plot in a revenue layout and took a loan from a bank,” Mandakini said. “I recently repaid the loan in full and visited the sub-registrar’s office to register a release deed. I couldn’t do it because I didn’t have e-khata. They directed me to approach the gram panchayat and get one. Now, I may be able to get e-khata.”
Arundhati Chandrashekar, commissioner, Karnataka Panchayat Raj Commissionerate, said there are 1.5 crore property records with the department and over 95 lakh of them need to obtain e-khata. “The department will issue e-khata for these 95 lakh properties soon. The initiative also includes issuing B-khatas as one-time relief for unauthorised properties,” Arundhati said.
Sources say the e-Swathu initiative will not only help property owners get e-khata, but it will also benefit gram panchayats since it will push up property tax collections. Tax collected from GPs in 2024-25 was Rs 1,272 crore. The department expects it to touch at least Rs 2,000 crore under the e-Swathu initiative.
