BENGALURU: Work on five Metro pillars near Tin Factory on the Outer Ring Road line has halted for the last four days after a person, claiming to be the actual owner of a piece of land on which the pillars were coming up, ensured that waste engine oil was splashed on the structures on one pillar ruining it. Fearing destruction of nearby pillars on this stretch between Benniganahalli and KR Pura, construction work has been fully stopped.
General Manager, Land Acquisition, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) M S Channappa Goudar told The New Indian Express, “The individual, Syed Fayaz, is staking claim to 3,762 sqm of land, located 200 metres from Tin Factory towards KR Pura, which was acquired by BMRCL.
He has a sale agreement only for 1 acre and 20 guntas out of 5 acres and claims that he is the rightful owner as he has purchased the land from the previous owner. He insists that the compensation should have been paid to him only.”
Fayaz had stopped Metro work a year ago too following which an FIR had been filed against him by BMRCL and the work resumed later. “He is also fighting a case in the civil court against others claiming ownership of the property. The court has not given any stay against ongoing work,” Goudar said. The compensation is worth over Rs one crore. “The individual needs to take legal recourse to claim his due and not stop our work like this,” he added.
A source said Fayaz also scribbled details of the court case number on four other pillars. Describing the recent incident, a senior BMRCL official told The New Indian Express, “Fayaz frequently threatens employees of the contractor, SNC, carrying out work here at night along with a few of his accomplices.
A day before the dirty oil was poured on pillar 583, he brought three truckloads of debris and dumped them in front of the pillars to show his protest. The following day, one of the men brought by him climbed one of our movable stepladders six metres high and poured a huge quantity of waste oil on our steel reinforcement structure.”
The reinforcement is being built around the Metro pillar to provide support for the pier cap above to place the segment on which the u-girders are laid for rail tracks. “Due to the oil on it now, the concrete poured on it would not stick.
We now have to dismantle the reinforcement, comprising numerous steel bars pieced together with wires, and build a new structure. It took us ten days to do the job and it will have to be repeated now,” said another official. BMRCL now plans to approach the Police Commissioner for support to resume its work.