BENGALURU: Several individuals who encroached upon lakes and tanks, carved layouts and sold sites to the gullible would be identified and punished says K.B. Koliwad, MLA, chairman of the House committee constituted to probe encroachment of water bodies in Bengaluru.
He told the media here on Monday the committee headed by himself would submit its report to Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa next week. It was originally scheduled to hand over an interim report on Monday but put off the move as most members sought time to discuss the issue of encroachment in detail. The members, who visited several lakes and tanks in Bengaluru last month, found that lakes were encroached upon by private and government agencies, and thousands had built houses without knowing that it was government land.
He said people, private enterprises and different government agencies had violated the law by encroaching upon lakes and tanks. Houses built on tank beds in areas developed by Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) would not be touched as members of the committee were committed to protecting the interests of owners of such dwelling places. The interests of innocent and poor people would be protected at any cost, he added.
Mr Koliwad said people had built houses on encroached land and had paid taxes to local authorities regularly. Though the panel had no power to direct the government to stop removal of encroachments, it had the power to recommend to the government to take action against land sharks. One of the major problems had been zeroing in on original land owners as the sites had changed many hands.
Officials of BDA, BWSSB and Karnataka State Pollution Control Board were summoned and their statements recorded in connection with encroachment of water bodies. A survey was launched to identify original land of tank beds and to fence them. So far, the committee has visited 25 tanks in the city, he added.
