Bengaluru: Bengaluru City Development Minister K.J. George said BBMP officials had been instructed to demolish buildings built on storm water drain or Raja Kaluve in the city.
Replying to a question raised by Sunil Subramani of BJP in the Legislative Council on Thursday, he said the BBMP had identified 1,953 illegal structures on Raja Kaluve, of which 1,225 had been cleared. The remaining 728 buildings would be pulled down once the survey was completed.
The surveyors who had carried out the survey of those buildings, but presently working in other departments, had been asked to assist the BBMP in identifying the structures before demolition.
Four cases were pending before the court. The state government had released Rs 700 crore for the construction of new storm water drains to avoid clogging of water in some areas. The work was going on and it would take at least four to five years for completion. Once it was ready, water logging at many places during rainy season would permanently stop, he said.
Digging of TenderSure roads
As for frequent digging of asphalted TenderSure roads in the city, the Minister admitted that several newly laid roads had been dug by BWSSB, Bescom and other government agencies to lay pipe/cables.
Recently, one of the TenderSure roads was dug by Bescom to repair the underground 330 KV power line. The digging was inevitable as otherwise Bescom would have to spend around Rs 100 crore to lay new cables.
Ducts had been constructed at several places on TenderSure roads to avoid digging of roads. But, OFC cables were being laid very frequently by some agencies and that cannot be prevented.Since the BWSSB had to complete the work of replacing an old pipe on Cunnigham Road, a portion of road had been left incomplete. Recently, they had to dig Raj Bhavan road as the water pipe broke. Some things were behind their control and they had act accordingly, he said.
In upcoming layouts, instruction had been given to all the agencies to complete their works so that ducts could be provided instead of allowing them to dig roads. A coordination committee under the chairmanship of chief secretary had been constituted to address these issues. People had to apply online seeking permission to dig road, he said.
