JOIN USThe district authorities found themselves in a fix on Saturday when they went to raze private buildings on the Banasavadi lake land.
Along with the private individuals, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) had also formed a layout on the tank bed, throwing norms to the wind.
The authorities recovered a huge tract of land worth hundreds of crore of rupees, including two petrol pumps established on the lake bed.
Of the total 42.38 acres of lake land, 14.27 acres had been encroached upon by the BDA, while the remaining 2.39 acres had been encroached upon by private persons. The lake, adjacent to the 80 Feet Road at Subbaianna Palya, was first reportedly encroached upon by private persons and then the BDA acquired it to form the HRBR Layout and allocated 222 sites. About 150 houses have already come up there.
While those properties that were built without any approval were razed, the authorities treating them as illegal, the BDA layout right in the middle of the lake was spared “until further orders from the government”.
Asked why the BDA layout was left untouched, Deputy Commissioner V Shankar said the decision regarding the illegal layout should be taken by the chief minister, and that a notice has been already served to the residents.
At the crack of the dawn, the district authorities, with 400 policemen and about 400 workers, dashed to the spot with earth-movers, trucks, tractors and tippers.
People who had constructed houses on the tank bed were shocked to see so many policemen surrounding them.
Soon, the teary-eyed residents pleaded with the authorities to spare them on humanitarian grounds, but their requests fell on deaf ears.
The officials directed the owners of the houses on revenue land to take out all the valuables of the houses, leading the people to rush inside with loud wails to retrieve as many important belongings as they could.
Moments later, the bulldozers brought down many structures while the womenfolk kept wailing.
“I have been residing here for the past 35 years. On January 4 this year we received a notice to vacate the area the next day,” said Kamala, one of those rendered homeless by the government action.
The authorities said some permanent structures on the tank bed would not be razed for the time being.
Three temples constructed in the lake bed were taken over by the district administration.
The Om Shakti, Nagashakti and Muneshwara temple were then handed over to the Muzrai department.
The district administration, which demolished two petrol pumps, allowed the bunk owners to remove their petrol and diesel stock.
The district administration on Saturday reclaimed 671.3 acres of government land worth Rs 7,551 crore. In Munnekolalu, it was found that a private school was functioning on the land allotted to a rehabilitation centre for leprosy patients. The officials locked the school building.