BANGALORE: Residents of K R Puram were stunned when they saw a multi-storeyed building tilted in their area on Thursday. The building, constructed on a narrow 10X30 feet site, sent shock waves among the people while the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials showed no concern at their zonal office, located right opposite to this structure.
The building leaned slightly on to the adjacent building. The building appears to be dramatically squeezed into a narrow space between two huge commercial establishments on either side. Though the main culprit is said to be the owner of this building, all eyes have turned towards the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials “who are actually blind” to see such a grave situation, the people said.
Panic spread across the area, as a crack in the adjacent building, housing Tata Motors, became larger through the course of the day.
"I did’nt Approve Plans’: When Express reached the K R Puram’s BBMP zonal office, only two junior officers were seen having lunch. As the crowd outside the office swelled, these officers remained unconcerned and said that only the BBMP Commissioner could comment on this. Meanwhile, BBMP Commissioner M K Shankarlinge Gowda, who was unaware about this tilted building, reacted furiously saying that he had not given the building the sanctions.
“I have not given approval to this building and I am not aware about this. All the sanctions are provided by zonal officers, they should be questioned about this,” he said washing his hands of the case. The owner of the building, identified as Vimal Jain is absconding and the officials are engaged in a blame game.
‘There are Thousand Such Buildings’
“This area was handed over to the BBMP only in 2007. Earlier, it was under the City Muncipality Council (CMC). This structure was constructed during the CMC period. This is not our responsibility,” said K N Devaraju, Joint Commissioner of the Mahadevapura Zone.
When questioned about why they have not questioned the credentials of this building so far, Devaraju said, “We have got the structural engineers to check this building after you pointed it out to us. We have noticed absolutely no tilt in the building. We have now issued a notice to the owner through our engineers. There are more than a thousand such structures in K R Puram. Nothing can be done about this.”