Bangalore: Former IAS officer Vivek Kulkarni has been accused of cutting trees in a civic amenity area and constructing a compound wall around it in the MetropÂolitan Cooperative HousÂing Society in BTM Layout Second Stage.
Dilip Rau, another retired IAS officer and a neighbour, said, “I wrote to the BBMP Commissioner, calling it a ‘blatant case of land grabbing’, but the authorities are sitting quiet. Kulkarni cut two trees in the public area as his cars were littered with bird droppings.”
Kulkarni told DC that he constructed the compound wall to keep stray dogs away and put gates to allow anyone to use the public space.
“I sought the permission of the BBMP to get the overgrown trees pruned as they were a nuisance for our terrace parties,” he said.
Ex-IAS officer cuts trees, ‘walls’ public land, neighbours cry foul
Bangalore: Residents of the Metropolitan Cooperative Housing Society in BTM layout’s second stage have complained that one of the owners of the 80 bungalows in the layout has fenced in a strip of property that runs at the back of all the bungalows and belongs to the BBMP.
The residents maintain this piece of what is called civic amenity (CA) ground, planting trees here and keeping it clean.
One resident, Vivek Kulkarni, a retired IAS officer who runs his own BPO, has constructed a compound wall around the site and is using it like his own property.
He has put in a lawn and concrete structures like pathways. He is now pruning teak trees in neighbouring CA sites claiming that he is not getting enough sunlight for the vegetable garden that he has planted in the civic amenity area.
The betterment association of Metropolitan Cooperative Housing Society has requested him to remove the compound wall as it is illegal.
“Vivek Kulkarni has been annoying the neighbourhood for quite some time to an extent that I have written a letter to the BBMP Commissioner about the issue, calling it a ‘blatant case of land grabbing’, but the authority seems to be sitting quiet for reasons best known to them,” said Dilip Rau, a retired IAS officer and resident of the layout.
“He is a person who cuts trees if his car is littered with bird droppings. He had cut two trees in the public area where he parks his cars,” Rau added.
When Deccan Chronicle asked Kulkarni about these actions, he justified it, saying that almost all the residents take care of the civic amenity sites “this way.”
He said the compound wall was to prevent stray dogs from entering, but he had put gates so that anybody could use the civic amenity space.
“I sought the permission of the BBMP to have the overgrown trees pruned as it caused nuisance for our terrace parties. They came and cut it and took away the branches,” Kulkarni said.
