The Hindu : Karnataka/Bangalore News : Residents protest denial of access to road

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 04, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Residents protest denial of access to road

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, APRIL 3. The Minister for Social Welfare, A. Krishnappa, joined a dharna by the residents of Keerthi Manor, an apartment complex at G.M. Palya, behind Bharat Earth Movers Ltd. on Saturday.

The Minister sat with the protesters for almost two hours. The protest was against the reported action of the officials of the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. to deny the residents of the apartment access to the main road.

The residents of the 65 flats in the apartment building used a small part of HAL land from their main gate as an access to the main road 10 metres away.

It was on the permission given by the HAL authorities that the residents were using the approach road since 1998.

N. Chandrashekar, a resident, alleged that an Estate Officer of HAL and other authorities brought earth moving equipment in the morning and dug a trench at the gate to deny them access to the main road. In the process, the authorities cut the telephone lines, and water supply to the residents was also affected.

"They did not give us any reason for denying access to the main road and cutting off the telephone lines and water supply," Geeta Philip, another resident, said.

The residents said the HAL authorities were complying with a judgement of the civil court dismissing a case of the owner of the land, on which the apartment was built, against the HAL.

The residents said they were unaware of the dispute.

"It was only when they began digging the trench that we came to know about the dispute," Mr. Shankar, another resident, said. The residents termed the denial of basic facilities without giving prior notice as improper.

"We were not given a copy of the judgement as we were not party to the dispute," Mr. Shankar said.

The Minister made arrangements to fill up the trench. Mr. Krishnappa told The Hindu that he had instructed the Deputy Commissioner (East) of Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, N. Jayaram, to make arrangements to take over the part of the disputed land from HAL for the right of way for the residents.

A.K Saxena, Managing Director, Bangalore Complex of HAL, declined to comment on the issue without going into the records related to it.

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