The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Portions of nine buildings demolished in Puttenahalli

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Friday, Sep 28, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Portions of nine buildings demolished in Puttenahalli

Staff Reporter

240 square feet of land from Sobha Tulip recovered: BBMP

— Photo: K.Murali Kumar

PAVING THE WAY FOR WATER: A team of BBMP gangmen demolishing illegal encroachments on the Raja Kaluve near Puttenahalli in J.P. Nagar V Phase in Bangalore on Thursday.

BANGALORE: Fending off pressure from builders and individual property owners, the Bangalore Urban District Administration and the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Thursday brought down portions of nine properties that had encroached upon the Raja Kaluve on the 24th Main in Puttenahalli.

For the record, the Raja Kaluve, that is supposed to carry storm water from Puttenahalli and Sarakki lakes, passes through vacant sites, setback portions of some properties and within the compound wall of some others. The entrance wall, setback and a part of the basement parking of Sobha Tulip apartment were removed and 240 square feet of land was recovered for the drain.

Although 17 buildings had been identified and marked as illegal after a revenue survey by officials, encroached portions of only nine buildings were taken up on Thursday because owners of the remaining properties had obtained a stay from Karnataka Appellate Tribunal (KAT).

Deputy Commissioner (Urban) M.A. Sadiq told The Hindu that the drive would continue until all the encroachments were cleared.

“I will appeal to the KAT to take up hearing of the cases in which there was stay at the earliest because it is a matter of public importance. Unless, we clear the encroachments, we cannot prevent flooding in the area,” he said. “After the BBMP demolitions last week, there was a doubt whether we will also remove encroachments made by private builders. So, I started off with the Sobha building on Thursday,” he said.

Original alignment

Brushing aside allegations that the authorities were randomly digging up for the drain and clearing encroachments, Mr. Sadiq said: “We are clearing the encroachments as per the original Raja Kaluve alignment. The drain needs to be eight feet wide at some places and 16 feet at other places.

Accordingly, work is on.” Showing a sketch of the Puttenahalli Layout with the original Raja Kaluve, Mr. Sadiq said the required portions of the marked buildings were being cleared. “I have asked the BBMP to take up drain work immediately otherwise the whole exercise will be a waste,” he said.

He said more than 18 months of efforts had gone into the exercise.

“Following the 2005 deluge in the city, we took up a revenue survey of 29 tanks and identified 705 illegal structures on all the 29 Raja Kaluves of the tanks,” he added.

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