For many Bengaluru residents, buying a BDA site is seen as the safest route to home ownership. It comes with trust, paperwork and the promise of legality. That belief is now being tested for around 1,500
families in Banashankari 6th Stage, where plot owners find themselves stuck in an unusual and distressing situation. They own land, pay taxes on it, but cannot build on it or sell it.
Banashankari 6th Stage buyers caught in limbo
The affected plots are located in Banashankari 6th Stage, one of the city’s large BDA-developed layouts in south Bengaluru. Families who bought these sites years ago, many after investing their lifetime savings, say they are now trapped. Construction permissions have been halted, and potential resale is nearly impossible due to uncertainty surrounding land status.
The Forest Department has raised objections, claiming that parts of the layout fall within a forest buffer zone, close to the Turahalli forest area. This claim has put all transactions and development on hold.
How the dispute surfaced after years
Site owners point out that the issue surfaced only recently, despite the layout being developed and allotted long ago. For more than a decade, owners paid property tax, maintained documentation and followed all official procedures without any objection. It is only in the last 2 years that the Forest Department began asserting claims over portions of the land.
This delayed intervention has left residents questioning how land cleared and sold by a government authority can later be flagged as disputed.
What site owners are saying
Many buyers describe the situation as emotionally and financially draining. Some had planned to build homes after retirement, others hoped to sell the plots to fund children’s education or weddings. With neither option available, families say they are living in constant uncertainty.
One site owner, said she had been paying property tax for over 13 years without issue. According to her, it is unfair to question ownership now, after buyers trusted a government body and invested their savings in good faith.
BDA versus Forest Department
At the heart of the crisis is a standoff between two government departments. The BDA maintains that the land was legally acquired, developed into a residential layout and allotted as per rules. Officials argue that buyers should not be penalised for inter-departmental disputes.
The Forest Department, on the other hand, claims that certain blocks fall within forest boundaries or buffer zones and therefore cannot be developed. They argue that protecting forest land is a statutory responsibility and that errors in earlier demarcation cannot be ignored.
Building permissions frozen
Due to the unresolved dispute, the BDA has stopped issuing building plan sanctions and No Objection Certificates for affected plots. Without these approvals, construction is impossible. Banks are also reluctant to process loans, and buyers find it difficult to even find interested purchasers for resale.
For middle-class families, this has effectively frozen a major asset, locking away money that was meant to secure their future.
While no final legal verdict has been delivered yet, the lack of clarity has prolonged anxiety. Owners say there is no clear timeline, no interim relief and no compensation mechanism in place. The situation highlights larger issues around land governance, inter-departmental coordination and accountability.
What lies ahead for buyers
Officials have indicated that a high-level meeting is likely to be held in January 2026 to resolve the boundary dispute between the BDA and the Forest Department. Buyers are hopeful that a clear decision will emerge, either regularising the sites or providing an alternative solution.
Until then, families in Banashankari 6th Stage remain in limbo, holding land they legally own but cannot use. For them, the crisis is not just about property, but about trust in systems meant to protect ordinary citizens.
