Bengaluru: The chairman of the House Committee on Lake Encroachments K.B Koliwad pulled up BDA officials for failing to take action against land encroachments in Rachenahalli in Bengaluru North. He directed that notices be issued against erring officials.
Mr Koliwad, along with the other members of the Committee, conducted an inspection of encroached lands in various parts of the city on Thursday.
During the inspection, it came to light that in 2010, residents and citizen activists in Rachenahalli moved court alleging that the Brigade Group had encroached upon four acres of government land. The court, hearing the case, made the BDA a respondent too. However, the BDA has so far not appeared before the court in this case.
Irked with the lackadaisical attitude of the officials, Mr Koliwad alleged that the BDA officials too were hand-in-glove with the land encroachers.
“The residents have alleged that a reputed builder has encroached upon four acres of government land. But the BDA officials have maintained that the land has been handed over to the BBMP and have washed their hands of the case. When you (BDA) are a respondent in the case, how can you not appear before the court?” Mr Koliwad demanded.
Later, the Committee visited K.R Puram and found that a building belonging to V.R Bengaluru group was illegally constructed on ‘kharab’ land. The Committee members ordered that the building must be demolished within a week.
Tech Parks encroach upon government lands
Meanwhile, the Committee members said that builders of Bagamane Tech Park and Manyata Tech Park had encroached upon 36 and 34 guntas of government land. They stressed that 34 guntas of rajakaluve (storm water drain) was encroached upon, but the officials had failed to take action. Further, the members said that 36 guntas of Byrasandra Lake was encroached by Bagmane Group and though a majority of land was handed over to the state government, multi-storey buildings stood on 9 guntas of land. When the builder was asked what they planned to do with the encroached land, they responded that the land will be handed over to the government and it can develop a lake, the members maintained.
Mr Koliwad said that during the inspection, residents of various areas had complained about encroachments, and the Committee would hold a meeting and seek a report in this regard from the officials concerned.
