Bengaluru: Hundreds of residents of Sarakki, Jaraganahalli and Puttenahalli woke up to the sound of building getting demolished by earth movers as early as 7 am, while many had gone sleepless after the Thursday’s demolition drive.
The eviction drive being carried out on 33 acres in Sarakki entered second day on Friday. A team of 250 officials each, carried out the demolition in the three areas simultaneously. Assistant commissioner (Urban) L.C. Nagaraj said 68 individual homes, 3 apartment complexes and 10 commercial complexes were fully demolished, while 3 apartment complexes were partially demolished.
“Out of the seven apartments that were identified for demolition, one will not be demolished as the residents have obtained a stay order from the court. Demolition works are in progress on three apartment complexes,” he said.
Meanwhile, the officials also razed Oxford Hospital and a PG hostel in Sarakki. “About 60 per cent of the hospital and 30 per cent of the hostel buildings are demolished,” he added. Nagaraj said that most of the commercial buildings were demolished and remaining demolitions would resume on Monday. “Demolition works will be stalled as Karnataka Bandh will be observed on Saturday,” he said.
As for the completion of demolition drive, he said it was not known when the drive would end as they needed the help of other departments to complete the works sooner. “Debris has to be cleared and we need the help of agencies such as BDA and BBMP. Hence, we are not in a position to say when we will finish the demolition drive,” he added.
Restore wall by April 30: Karnataka High Court
After the state government assured the court that it will restore the partially demolished compound wall of Nandini Lake View Apartment, the high court directed it to carry out the work at the cost of the state exchequer before April 30.
The court ordered also that status quo should be maintained at the apartment till April 30. It directed the apartment owners to appear before the tahasildar on April 20 to submit objections in their case, following which the tahasildar would pass appropriate orders before April 30.
The apartment owners had approached the court alleging that despite court order to maintain status quo in their case, the officials went ahead with demolition drive and damaged their property, before they were made aware of the court order.
