BENGALURU: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike has got a shot in the arm with the demolition of two high-rise apartment complexes in Maradu, Kochi, on Saturday.
The civic body has started to check on all unauthorised constructions around lakes and rajakaluves. The officials said that normally people would approach courts and assume that their properties would not be demolished. “But the demolition of two residential complexes in Maradu in Kochi following Supreme Court directions, has only boosted our confidence now,” said a BBMP official.
There are 980 illegal structures around lakes and rajakaluves, according to a latest survey by BBMP officials. Also according to Koliwad committee report, there are 1.40 lakh unauthorised structures in the City, including properties falling under Akrama Sakrama. Besides, there are many properties which are still under court litigation.
“We are assessing all the properties again including the ones before the court. We are working on getting them legally disposed of at the earliest so that a concrete decision can be taken on what to do next with the unauthorised properties, if proven guilty,” added the official.
BBMP Commissioner BH Anil Kumar said each encroached property will be re-surveyed and mapped. If they are found to be government properties, then they will be removed and if they are private properties then the BBMP will work towards taking possession of them.
The concept of buffer zone is new, it came into effect with the Bangalore Development Authority’s comprehensive development plan of 2015. So each property needs to be dealt with separately.
As per the Koliwad committee report, all unauthorised structures need to be demolished.
The district administration had started the work, but the previous government intervened and stopped the encroachment clearance drive. Later, many experts on the NGT Committee and the lake expert committee, constituted by the state government, had also suggested demolition. But successive governments have not acted upon it.