Erroneous map puts Orion Mall at odds with BBMP

 Missing details about water sources in Bengaluru city survey maps have led to deep uncertainty about the construction of various buildings Following allegations that Orion Mall was built on stormwater drains, the BBMP had requested the Land Records Department to conduct a survey of the land

One of the most famous buildings currently under the scanner is Orion Mall, which is almost in a limbo, as per reports from the office of the Land Records Department.

According to the report submitted by the Joint Director of the Land Records to the Land Survey Commissioner, Orion Mall has been built on lands which originally did contain designated pathways, kharab lands and rainwater drains - but the government-approved map that the builders of Orion Mall used when it was constructed indicated none of these.

The report states: “Officers of the then Bengaluru City Corporation had cleared Orion Mall without reviewing original documents. The map made by the city survey officers does not include streams and drains which were present in the village map (the original document). Thus, now there is a need to survey the land occupied by Orion Mall and find out land which was a stream or drain earlier, and prepare a proper map based on the original documents.”

Further, it says, “As the mall comes under the city survey limits, BBMP should direct the commissioner concerned to take necessary actions.”

Going by the old village map, prepared when the disputed area was village land, the current report states that three-acres and four guntas of government land (including water sources) has been encroached upon.  

Two days ago, the administration of Orion Mall had given a formal clarification that their structure was not on any stormwater drains.

The clarification had stated that the Orion Mall Management Company had brought the land from the Kirloskar Electric company.

In the 1950s the current Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) (known then as the City Improvement Trust Board), had allotted the land where Orion Mall exists to the Kirloskar Company.

Here are the details of government land in Kethamaranahall.

Survey No 30 – 1 acre 5 guntas

Pathway – 3 guntas

Road for vehicles – 20 guntas

Stream – 22 guntas

• Orion Mall has occupied 10 guntas of road for vehicles in the kharab land

Survey No 179 – 16 guntas

Stream – 5 guntas

Pathway – 3 guntas

Road for vehicles – 8 guntas

• Out of this, Mall has occupied 3 guntas of pathway