BENGALURU: After nearly two months, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) restarted its stormwater drain encroachment removal drive on Thursday by razing two houses and two sheds at Munnekolalu village in Mahadevapura zone.
The Palike halted the drive on October 10 following a High Court stay. The Palike was also waiting for survey details and a hearing by Bengaluru East Tahsildar Naga Prashanth. The drive was launched after the stay was vacated and BBMP got the tahsildar’s clearance on December 13 to go ahead with the demolition under Section 104 of the Land Revenue Act, 1964 and the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
After getting the encroachment clearance order, the BBMP had issued notices to RK Mandal and SK Bhattacharya, both ex-servicemen, to vacate their houses. On Thursday, their houses were demolished under police protection.
Bhattacharya took photos and videos of his “dream home” before the demolition. “On Wednesday, I cleared the loan which I had taken to build my house and today, it was razed. I have been staying here since 1996 and have paid taxes religiously,” he said.
Hemanth Kumar, a property owner who lost half of his sheds, claimed the drive is political and houses are being targeted at the behest of a particular party. He demanded that the officials furnish a map and then carry on with the drive.
Assistant Executive Engineer (Mahadevpura) Raghavendra BN clarified that a survey was conducted and only after the tasildhar’s hearing and order, the drive was carried out at Survey Number 89.
“Two houses and two sheds were razed. These properties came up on a stormwater drain. The drive was done transparently,” he said and dismissed the allegations.
Three days ago, BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath had said the survey of SWDs had been completed at Yelahanka zone and, by December 28, it will be completed in the rest of the BBMP zones and the demolition drive will be resumed.