BENGALURU: After accomplishing the task of making the city free from illegal flexes, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has started taking to task property owners who have not dismantled unauthorised advertisement structures.
Demonstrating that it is really serious about going after property owners who ignored its notices directing them to dismantle such structures, the civic body has registered 767 first information reports (FIRs) against them in different police stations across the city.
Informing this to a division bench of Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice R Devdas in the High Court on Monday, BBMP Counsel V Sreenidhi sought two weeks time to complete the dismantling of all unauthorised structures. The court adjourned the hearing to October 26.
The counsel said out of the 1,846 structures in eight zones, 819 were removed voluntarily and 103 were dismantled by the civic body. After the FIRs were registered, 97 structures were removed. Till now, 1,109 structures have been dismantled and 634 are yet to be removed, Sreenidhi said.
He also said after registration of FIRs, property owners are requesting the BBMP to withdraw the cases as they will now remove the structures themselves. As many as 193 structures have not been touched as the owners have obtained stay orders.
Survey of quality of materials
After perusing the copies of the agreements entered with private firms by the BBMP, the court asked the civic body to conduct a survey of skywalks, bus shelters and public toilets built under Public, Private Partnership (PPP) to know their numbers and also if the materials used for advertisements are biodegradable or not. On the other hand, the PPP project holders have been asked to file affidavit on the materials they are using for display.