Bengaluru: Calling the re-survey of encroachments of rajakaluve and lakes ordered by the BBMP a tactic to buy time and help big builders, a senior IAS officer points out that the report on a survey of 700 km of the storm water drains done around four years ago is still lying in cold storage.
“The BBMP has been sitting on the report for years. After Chief Minister Siddaramaiah ordered removal of the encroachments on the storm water drains following the rain and flooding in the city, its officials pulled down houses of ordinary citizens, but now the drive has come to a grinding halt in the name of doing a fresh survey just to protect the interests of big builders and shopping malls,” he charged.
Also, recalling that the Department of Survey, Settlement and Land Records had done a survey all lakes in the city over three months and submitted a report to the government, he regretted that instead of acting on it, the revenue authorities were waiting for a nod from the Koliwad Committee to issue notices to the encroachers. "There is even talk of doing a re-survey of lake beds, which could take one or two years to complete. By that time, a new government would have come to power,” he protested.
The officer explained that the department had used maps of 1965 as the base for its survey as encroachments were not heard of at the time. “Even more authenticated survey maps were prepared by the British in the early years of the last century. But unfortunately, people have questioned the authenticity of these maps as they were prepared by the colonial rulers,” he regretted.
