Hazy drain alignments, but demolitions continue

A huge hoarding displayed on the premises of Sai Suraksha Marvella, a multi-storey apartment in Avani Sringerinagar, sports a message that no one wants to believe. It claims that the residential project has government approvals such as Occupancy Certificate (OC) and ‘A’ Khata.

But BBMP is not impressed. It has included the apartment in the list of buildings earmarked for partial demolition. In this case, the Palike has found that the rajakaluve (feeder canal) traverses through the compound wall to link Madiwala and Hulimavu lakes.

The apartment owners’ contention that they possessed government documents and sale deed did not satisfy the Palike. It continues its demolition drive, armed with a decade-old village survey map.

In the first phase of this drive, BBMP has proposed to take out 1,100 properties that have encroached upon drains. Listed for demolition are independent houses, posh villas, penthouses and apartments and independent houses.

Pradeep Rao and his family were among others who lost their houses in Bommanahalli constituency, most affected by the recent floods. “All the other houses that were marked for demolition were given time to use their own resources to raze it. But, we were not. Our house was demolished at 10.30 am while BBMP commissioner was here in the noon. He gave time for others while we were not even given time to remove our luggage,” rues Rao.

His son Dilip Pawar, who works as a medical distributor, has no clue about what to do next. “I have two aged parents and wife who are dependent on me. My sister, who is in the sixth month of pregnancy, had a rude shock to see the house being razed. We had spent all our savings to build this house. We will have to lead our lives homeless as our family cannot afford to build another,” he laments.

Mahendra Kumar, who works for a MNC, lost his posh villa in Shubh Enclave, Kasavanahalli. “We had purchased the property for Rs 50 lakh 15 years ago and spent an additional Rs 2 crore to construct the villa. When we bought the land, the drain ran on the left side of our house. Now the officials say something else. We lost a precious house,” he says.

Some of them had hired private engineers after the BBMP damaged more than the designated portion. One of the affected house owners, Pradeep Baliga, explains, “We got private civil engineers’ advice while BBMP officials were on the demolition drive. This helped us retain legitimate portions of the building.”

There were complaints about not getting time to vacate the houses. S Gowri, a resident of Siddaiah Road, recalls: “The officials threatened to demolish the building even if the household items are not taken out. We did not know whether to convince the officials or remove the items. A good house is being razed for no fault of ours.”

Shobha Mohan, a plywood shop owner, says: “BBMP officials marked our shop for demolition last night and are here right in the morning with earth-movers. It's not a vegetable store to take out things in a few minutes. We need time. This is our livelihood.”

Some were angry at officials in the revenue department, who were not sure of the drain alignment. Sheena Ajith from Subbanna Layout in Vidyaranyapura main road says: Officials had marked the drain alignment on the edge of the house and later made it right in the middle of our house. We do not know which is correct. This is a purchased property. The bank loan is still pending,” says Sheena.

Ravichandar Reddy, who lives in Shubh Layout, had this to say: “The officials had increased the drain width from five metres to 7.4 metres only to save an influential building and to demolish our compound. The moment we protested, the officials became silent. We had village survey map and Pahani (RTC) to prove our point.”