BENGALURU: Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) which took up a Storm Water Drain (SWD) encroachment survey in all eight zones of the Palike, has found 1,134 encroachments. Yelahanka zone tops the list with 308 encroachments.
A senior engineer from BBMP’s SWD department said, “Following BBMP Chief Commissioner’s direction, SWD zonal engineers and surveyors were deployed to carry out a survey of drains. There was flooding in the city in 2022 due to encroachment of SWDs, and the Karnataka High Court took serious note of it.”
“Between August 27 and October 20 this year, 1,134 new encroachments were found,” the engineer said, adding that the SWD department has asked tahsildars to inspect the encroachments.
The encroachers will get a notice from tahsildars under Section 104 of the Karnataka Land Revenue (KLR) Act for a hearing, and once the revenue department is convinced about the encroachments, demolition orders will be issued and Palike will implement the order,” said a senior BBMP official.
Survey to be conducted
Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner N Dayananda told The New Indian Express that following complaints from BBMP officials, tahsildars will conduct a survey, based on the village map. “Under Section 104 of the KLR Act, SWD encroachments will be removed once the revenue department confirms the violation,” said Dayananda.
DIVISION-WISE SWD
ENCROACHMENT
BBMP East Zone 24
BBMP West Zone 74
BBMP South Zone 51
Yelahanka 308
Mahadevapura 75
Bommanahalli 175
RR Nagar 71
Dasarahalli 246
110 SWD encroachment was found in Koramangala Valley