Bengaluru: The 70.2 mm of rain that lashed South and South East Bengaluru in the last week of July, highlighted the abuse and the abject state of lawlessness of builders in connivance with BBMP authorities who blatantly encroached upon lakebeds and storm water drains, questioning the very existence of urban development and the infrastructure department in the city.
DC highlights a few areas which pose the threat of floods. Another Kodichikkanahalli in the making is at Gubbalala, off Kanakapura Road, all thanks to a renowned city builder who encroached upon a primary storm water drain (Raja Kaluve) to build a car parking lot upon it, deviating the gradient of the drain in a different direction.
Mantri Tranquil Apartments was in the news for losing its tranquility a couple of years ago, when BBMP authorities knocked on their doors to demolish the encroached structure over the storm water drain. Residents gheraoed BBMP officials, staged a protest by sitting on earthmovers before they obtained a stay order from the court to not go on with the demolition.
BBMP officials who inspected the encroached area, days after heavy rains lashed south and south-east Bengaluru causing floods, said Gubbalala is the next Kodichikkanahalli in the years to come.
“The builder has encroached approximately 15 guntas of land into the Raja Kaluve. They have deviated the storm water drain in order to build a car parking lot in that place. The storm water drain starts all the way from Gubalala village up to the Subramanayapura lake, where it is blocked and diverted at the Mantri Tranquil Apartments,” said, Srilakshmi, Assistant Engineer, BBMP.
“In 2014, when we went along with the police for an encroachment removal drive, we could remove only a part of the compound wall as they immediately obtained a stay order from the court,” she added. “The case with Mantri is not to be treated as an isolated incident, as every big builder including Purvankara and Sobha have encroached upon Raja Kaluves in the city.
A Purva project in Kudlu too encroached upon a storm water drain recently. Later, they said that they didn’t block the drain, but only diverted a part of it. “They diverted the drain according to their convenience, without considering the slope necessary for the flow of water through that gradient,” says Srilakshmi .
“We went there for an inspection jtwo days ago, but as the drain was encroached upon, we were not able to gauge if any flooding might occur. Now, it all depends on the amount of rainfall. Fortunately, there wasn’t any flooding in that area last week, when we went for an inspection.
“At a nearby layout, we did notice drain water spilling out all over the road, but the residents said that the water was not from the Raja Kaluve, but a different drain nearby,” Srilakshmi added.
“Raja Kaluve is the only inlet left to fill into the Subramanyapura lake, so the tank is dying a slow death because of this encroachment.” The lake is solely dependent on rainfall as its source of water, the engineer added.
Drains encroached everywhere
A few open storm water drains near Kamakhya in Banashankari 3rd Stage behind the PESIT College along the Outer Ring Road which are tributaries of the Vrishabhavati river have been encroached to such an extent, that only a few remnants of the drain are existent now.
While the BBMP told the High Court in July this year, that over 800 storm water drain encroachments have been removed and cleared among the total 2,000 encroachments in the city corporation, in reality there are 769 encroachments in Mahadevpura, 395 in Yelahanka, 347 in East Zone and 258 encroachments in Dasarahalli where numerous builders have come up with new projects.
According to sources, there were 43 SWD encroachments in Bommanahalli, 32 in Rajarajeshwari Nagar, 31 in South Zone, and 13 in West Zone, so a total of 1888 encroachments still exist.
