The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Vacate first, Koramangala EWS quarters residents told

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 09, 2007
ePaper

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Vacate first, Koramangala EWS quarters residents told

Staff Reporter

Chief Minister says all blocks will be rebuilt in five months

PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS: Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy speaking to residents of EWS Quarters in Koramangala on Thursday. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

BANGALORE: Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Thursday promised the occupants of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike's (BBMP) dilapidated housing quarters for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) in Koramangala that they would be rehabilitated soon.

During his visit to the quarters, the Chief Minister asked the occupants to vacate the blocks so that the quarters could be rebuilt.

Repeated pleas

The visit follows repeated pleas by residents of the quarters, who had been demanding for long that the complex should be demolished and rebuilt.

Although this proposal had been approved several times in the last three years, nothing had been done.

On Thursday, the Chief Minister promised the residents that the complex would be reconstructed in five months if they vacated the blocks immediately.

Apart from the original allottees, some occupants who were staying there for long would be accommodated in the new building, he said.

Parts of the EWS complex, which was built in 1986 with a Rs 2.23-crore HUDCO loan, have collapsed several times in the last three years.

Residents were under constant fear of the building crumbling down any moment.

Following one such collapse of the 13 "B' block of the complex in November 2003, the former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna had directed the erstwhile BMP to demolish and rebuild the quarters.

Action

He had ordered the blacklisting of the 13 contractors and initiate action against the three engineers involved in the construction.

In January 2005, the BMP issued notices to the residents to vacate the flats. But they refused to move out. A survey conducted by the BMP to identify the original house owners in the complex revealed that tenants occupied 1,101 of the 1,512 flats.

While 258 were owner-occupied, the rest were vacant.

Dilemma

The BBMP, which was in a dilemma over the allotment of the new flats, had paid Rs 5,000 compensation to all the inmates of the quarters, irrespective of whether they were original allottees or tenants.

Health Minister R Ashok, BBMP Commissioner K. Jairaj and other officials accompanied the Chief Minister.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka