BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Monday directed the State Government and the BBMP to take immediate steps to clear all encroachments on Storm Water Drains (SWDs). The court said the BBMP had failed to perform its statutory duties of clearing encroachments.
The court also directed the state government and the civic body to take steps to ensure prevention of dumping of waste and pollutants into SWDs and submit a status report in this regard on or before the next date of hearing to be held on October 12, 2022. A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice S Vishwajith Shetty passed the order on a plea filed by activist Geetha Misra who drew the attention of the court by providing photographs which showed the flood situation in the city.
‘Went ahead as per orders’
Reddy said eight properties were identified for demolition in Maruthi Layout near AECS Layout and residents were informed about it on Saturday. “We faced objections from some owners, but we went ahead as we have directions from our seniors and the Karnataka High Court,” Muni Reddy said. Chief Engineer Basavaraj Kabade, who was monitoring the drive, said, “Today, only compound walls and gates were demolished and after serving a notice under Section 104 of Karnataka Land Revenue A ct, the BBMP will ask the house owners to vacate as our JCB will raze the walls and pillars that stand on drains and in buffer zones.
No encroacher, be it VVIPs, will be spared.” The BBMP also released a list of 15 big names including IT Parks, New Horizon College, Wipro, realty firms like Gopalan, and Aadarsh that have allegedly encroached the SWDs. Confirming it, Trilok Chandra said the names on the list are only of encroachers on SWDs and that clearance of encroachments on lakes will start after this. Interestingly, Mohammed Nalapad, President, Indian Youth Congress, Karnataka, had protested in front of Eco-Space after the heavy flooding.