BENGALURU: A family has been coolly encroaching the middle portion of the Indira Canteen Road in Yesvantpur Industrial Area for the last four years. A petty shop, a space where poultry is reared and a house have sprung up on the main road with impunity. Attempts by residents and employees in the area to make them leave have gone in vain as the family members claim to be close to Rajarajeshwari Nagar MLA and Horticulture Minister N Munirathna.
Nagaraj, a contracted employee of BESCOM, his wife and two sons are residing here. His mother, Shanthamma, who lives in the slum in Adarsh Nagar nearby backs him and is a much-feared personality in the area. "Complaints and objections by residents to the encroachment are shrugged off by the family members. They coolly say they are close to the Horticulture Minister Munirathna and carry on," said an individual requesting anonymity.
Another resident said, "We have a reputed office here. It is terrible to see goats tied here and hens running around ruining the ambience for all. But we really feel helpless."
Many letters despatched to the BBMP by George Pearson, who owns properties here have gone in vain.
"It is shocking to see the main road running to 80 feet being encroached and no government agency coming forward to take any action. We have alerted the BBMP and sent many reminders to them," he said in one of his letters.
The sewage system in front of one of the huge buildings here has been fully blocked by these encroachments and the Storm Water Drain too has been encroached, Pearson added in the letter.
A localite familiar with the development said that Munirathna had promised to build concrete houses for all the slum dwellers here. "The promise was not kept up and so a few of the slum dwellers feel they deserve to have their own house here. This family has just gone ahead and taken matters into their own hands and built their place," he said.
Repeated calls by The New Indian Express to the Minister went unanswered.