In a belated move, the Karnataka government has cracked the whip on Bengaluru’s apathetic civic officials after an unauthorised, six-storeyed building collapsed like a pack of cards last week, killing nine labourers. The building, coming up in a middle-class eastern suburb, was constructed without valid permissions and had been issued three notices and a demolition order. But Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) engineers failed to stop the work, leading to the tragedy.
The sub-divisional engineer has now been suspended. Under fire from citizens over the utter lack of enforcement and accountability, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar have ordered a survey of all under-construction buildings to check for illegalities and demolish unauthorised ones. By law, the sanctioned plan is to be publicly displayed; but this happens in the breach and engineers claim innocence.
While the Palike did bring down a couple of tilting monstrosities last week, it would not be wrong to say that it is embarking on an unfamiliar project. Demolition is almost always the last resort. For BBMP engineers, every building violation is an opportunity to get rich—and their greed is matched by the builders’. Errant owners get a stay order from court and officials come up with a ‘compromise formula’ involving hefty bribes.
This is despite blatant violations in the form of unsanctioned floors, failure to provide parking space, and contravention of setback and zonal norms. Even a cursory check of any Bengaluru street would find several structures that are fit for demolition. Though the government claims it has empowered civic agencies like the BBMP, Bangalore Development Authority and Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force after their powers were revoked by the previous government in 2020-21, it is moot whether the Palike will demolish any property.
Year after year, the BBMP has been restrained by judicial stays when it attempts to demolish encroachments on wetlands and storm water drains constructed by affluent owners. When the enforcer of laws is helpless, residents can expect little change in the city’s landscape. If demolition is the answer, there cannot be different laws for different sections of society—every illegal building will have to be razed. It remains to be seen if engineers tasked with the survey and joint commissioners armed with drone surveillance will play by the rulebook.