BENGALURU: The demolition drive taken up by the Congress government has come in for sharp criticism by a corporator from the same party. Jayamahal corporator M. K. Gunashekar said that carrying out demolitions based on century old village maps was inappropriate.
At the council meet on Friday Gunashekar said that Supreme Court had given a ruling that master plan is supreme and bona fide for any sanction of layout and building. If basing a century-old map during the survey of encroachments was valid, does that mean the Supreme Court’s verdicts do not have any binding, he questioned. The physical quality of the land has been changing drastically every three decades. The geographical quality of Bengaluru has changed drastically since 1904.
The Supreme Court verdict and the Constitution itself mandates that slapping notice is a must, if the encroachments are of longer duration. But the BBMP commissioner is taking a stance that Karnataka Municipal Corporation (KMC) Act has not provision for issuing notice for encroached properties. Is the KMC Act superior to the Constitution and Supreme Court rulings, he questioned.
Besides, frequent changes in the alignment of Storm Water Drains (SWD) have caused much anxiety and chaos among the public, especially those who are set to lose their property. The government must provide accurate information about the encroachments, he stressed. However, ruling party leader R. S. Satyanarayan made him discreetly divert the topic.
