Bengaluru: Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has resolved 64% of the 7,410 grievances registered through open-house meetings since its launch on July 3, 2025.The 100th such meeting on Thursday, chaired by BDA chairperson NA Haris in the presence of commissioner P Manivannan, drew appreciation from several quarters. Describing open-house meetings as a significant milestone in BDA’s journey towards citizen-centric governance, Haris said: “It provides citizens a direct platform to raise grievances before BDA officials, who are required to attend with files and records. It has ensured that every grievance is heard, tracked and pursued in a time-bound way. The mechanism was subsequently strengthened through ‘BDA GUARANTEE’, under which complaints are digitised, assigned unique grievance identification numbers and tracked for action.”BDA said it had also received 69,686 queries through inbound calls and 3,630 through WhatsApp. The authority has prescribed indicative redressal timelines of seven days for urgent grievances, 30 days for general grievances and 100 days for complaints raised at Open House meetings.For many senior citizens who attended Thursday’s meeting, the initiative has helped resolve disputes that had dragged on for years. Nagaraj (70) said he received an allotment in Arkavathy Layout in 2026 after pursuing the matter for 20 years and making eight attempts. However, subsequent formalities were delayed because of litigation concerning the land. Although BDA offered him an alternative site, he declined it as he had specifically applied for Arkavathy Layout. “Had regular open-house meetings been held earlier, it would have saved us years,” he said.Pushpalatha, 74, and her husband said they had applied for a plot in Arkavathy Layout 22 years ago. After approaching BDA recently, an official helped them secure an alternative site in Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout. “We thank BDA officials, especially commissioner Manivannan, for these meetings,” Pushpalatha said.Another elderly couple from Padmanabhanagar said they were allotted a 30×40 site in Arkavathy Layout in 2006 and registered it in 2007, only to later discover that the land was disputed.“After the Justice K N Keshavanarayana Committee report, we were allotted a site in Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout. We had no option but to accept this,” they said. The couple said they were asked to pay Rs 20,000 as charges for the alternative allotment despite having paid taxes and other fees earlier. BDA chairman Haris, they said, had orally agreed to adjust the amount against future tax payments.Prasad, another beneficiary, said his original allotment of a 40×60 site was cancelled, following which BDA offered him a 30×40 site and agreed to refund the difference in the amount paid. “The Open House system sped up the process significantly,” he added.
