Ahead of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) elections, the state government has decided to regularise 3,699 acres of encroached Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) land, housing nearly 66,500 sites in as many as 68 BDA layouts, according to a report in The Hindu.The land was notified and acquired by BDA during the formation of the layouts, but the land has seen development due to properties coming up in land owned by private individuals, despite not having title deeds. In most cases, the owners of the properties are fighting a court battle challenging the acquisition or seeking title deed.“There are only two options here. Either we evict them or regularise them,” Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was quoted as saying by the paper. The government, therefore, has decided to regularise the properties owned by private individuals by imposing a fee since this would solve the problem for land owners as well as generate revenue for BDA, he added.