BENGALURU: Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s demolition action against two illegal buildings in AECS Layout, in Mahadevapura zone, fell flat after the owners flashed a court stay in the face of BBMP engineers.
There are three unauthorised floors on property number 877 and 879 in AECS Layout 2nd Main C Block. Residents of the area, who had struggled for one year to get a demolition order passed against the illegal floors, were happy to see JCBs rolling in. However, their joy was short-lived as the owners had obtained a high court stay.
The stay order is applicable to both buildings, and was handed over to executive engineer Ravi Kumar, Mahadevapura division, and assistant executive engineer Srikanth of Mahadevapura sub-division. The engineers asked one of the owners to remove the illegal floors within two weeks, based on the court order.
AECS 2nd Main, C Block, Residents’ Welfare Association member Venkatesha H said that GPA holder Nagaraj A of site number 879, which has three illegal floors, started the building a year ago. The building plan has been severely violated. Permission was sought for stilt, ground plus two floors. Similarly, on site 877 belonging to Soudhami G, permission was given for stilt, ground and three floors, but has three unauthorised floors.
“Due to the illegal building, one of the residents and neighbours Srinivas was harassed. His house wall developed cracks due to construction of an illegal buildings next to his property. Natural light and air, which are a fundamental right, were encroached on. The building has no setback area and its unauthorised floors violate the sanctioned plan. We were hoping for some action from BBMP but they are now telling us they cannot take action due to court stay,” said Venkatesha.
Chandrappa NK, a resident and complainant, says he struggled to act against the two illegal buildings since last year. The demolition order under BBMP Act 356 was recently passed. On Friday, BBMP was scheduled to remove the unauthorised floors but the owners got a stay.
IN SAME BOAT
When asked about the violation of BBMP bylaws, Nagaraj who is a GPA holder of site number 879, said everyone is constructing illegal buildings so he is also doing the same.