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City Corporation Council backs demolition drive in Mysore

Staff Correspondent

Corporation begins demolitions to retrieve road lost to encroachments

DRIVE AGAINST ENCROACHMENTS: Tourists standing at the entrance of a hotel on Sri Harsha Road after the corporation demolished three steps that had encroached upon the road, in Mysore on Thursday.

MYSORE: Even as the Mysore City Corporation began the process of reopening the kilometre-long road parallel to Sri Harsha Road in the heart of the city by demolishing illegal structures, the City Corporation Council, which met here on Thursday, backed the encroachment-removal drive initiated by the Commissioner, A.B. Ibrahim.

Though the councillors did not object to the clearance of encroachments, the Leader of the Opposition, Nagendra, said the officials should take the councillors into confidence before launching a drive in their areas. He felt that the signboards in front of the shops should be spared, as they do not hinder pedestrian movement.

B.K. Prakash, former Mayor, took exception to the reports appearing in a section of the press that the councillors are not in favour of the encroachment-removal drive initiated by the Corporation.

With a view to clarifying the matter, Mr. Prakash asked the councillors attending Thursday's meeting if they had any objection to the corporation's drive. When there was no response, Mr. Prakash said the allegations were baseless.

Mr. Nagendra said the councillors find themselves at a loss when traders and shopkeepers approach them when officials demolish structures in their areas.

Most of councillors who spoke at the meeting addressed issues such as drinking water supply, construction of subways for the convenience of pedestrians, and elimination of the pig menace. References to the on-going demolition drive were, however, brief. Earlier in the morning, the corporation squad had begun an operation to demolish all the structures, which had encroached on the kilometre-long road from Ashoka Road to Bangalore-Nilgiri Road.

The unauthorised gate at the entrance of the road, adjacent to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) office, was pulled down.

The squad proceeded to demolish the encroachments on either side of the road, including two shops.

In view of concrete structures, which had come up in the middle of the road, the corporation's squad literally hit a road-block.

According to the map of the city prepared in 1904, which is in the possession of the corporation, a kilometre-long thoroughfare ran parallel to Sri Harsha Road. Over the years, the road has been swallowed by encroachments, Mr. Ibrahim said.

The operation will continue till all the illegal structures along the "missing" road are removed, he said.

Mr. Ibrahim told presspersons that during the demolition drive, the corporation had come across large-scale violation of building plans by property owners. He served an ultimatum to property owners in the city to remove the deviations by Sunday, failing which the corporation will start pulling them down from Monday.

Cellars built in violation of the sanctioned plan will be closed, he said. "Conservancy lanes have been encroached upon in several places in old extension of the city. They will be cleared as the land belongs to the corporation," Mr. Ibrahim said.

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