BBMP mulls ‘Shankar model’ to dull stay strategy

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s demolition drive has taken a hit at a few places with owners moving court to obtain a stay order against action on their properties.

BENGALURU: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s demolition drive has taken a hit at a few places with owners moving court to obtain a stay order against action on their properties. This has prompted the Palike authorities to adopt ‘Shankar model’ after the former Urban Deputy Commissioner, during whose tenure the drive to remove encroachments on lakes and revenue lands was taken up on weekends to avoid court-ordered stay.

The erstwhile Siddaramaiah’s government came under fire for rolling in bulldozers into posh Layouts. Since then, no such drive was undertaken until the flooding in the IT corridor of Mahadevapura.

“Other works of the civic body are getting hampered, and so the drive will be done on weekends,” said Basavaraj Kabade, chief engineer, Mahadevapura Zone. An official said, “By the time the owners get a stay order, more than 50% to 60% of the drive would have been completed.”