BENGALURU: Despite a staff crunch, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) re-started its demolition drive and began removing encroachments from stormwater drains (SWD) in the city. Officials were told to complete the demolition drive by end of February.
A day after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah instructed the BBMP Commissioner to re-start the demolition drive, BBMP officials started their drive on Thursday. On Thursday, BBMP removed encroachments at Attur ward in Yelahanka zone. “We have removed 12 encroachments that had encroached 1,300m. These are vacant sites. Demolition will start from Monday for which markings will be done on Friday,’’ Siddegowda, BBMP Chief Engineer (SWD), said.
According to Siddegowda, they had identified 1,955 encroachments on stormwater drains. Of them, they have removed 1,082 encroachments including 12 on Thursday,’’ he said. “We still have 873 encroachments and were told to remove them by February-end,’’ he added.
Talking about staff crunch, Siddegowda said they need 59 surveyors. They now have just 14. “We are expecting to get 15 more by Monday. Even then we will have an acute shortage of surveyors. We have taken help from the Bengaluru Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) and the local police for security,’’ he said.
Sources from BBMP said this is the third phase of the demolition drive this year.