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Palike demolishes apartment compound, houses on SWD

Last Updated 25 August 2016, 20:33 IST

There was tension at Surakasha Golden Palm Apartment at Arakere, off Bannerghatta Road, as the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) razed the compound wall of the residential complex on Thursday.

After razing many buildings at Avani Sringeri Nagar in Arakere, the BBMP and Bengaluru Urban district authorities identified more buildings including the compound wall of Suraksha Apartment for encroaching upon the stormwater drain (SWD). On Wednesday, Palike officials had marked the encroached portions of the buildings, sending residents into a tizzy.

Fearing that they would lose their properties, residents swarmed the house of the local corporator Bhagyalakshmi Murali on Wednesday night requesting her to use her influence to stop the demolition drive. “They were at my house till late Wednesday night. It was very difficult to convince them to part with their properties. It is very apparent that the BBMP is targeting small properties while the big ones are left untouched,” she said.

As the BBMP team reached the area with earthmovers on Thursday morning, people opposed the demolition. They asked the officials to give them time to raze their buildings on their own saying as the demolition by heavy machines would weaken the structures. The residents of Suraksha Golden Palm Apartments sought to know the basis of the survey and made a bid to save their compound wall.

The BBMP could demolish the structures only after Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) Superintendent of Police D Devaraj reached the spot. Earthmovers bulldozed the apartment’s compound wall and buildings. Workers created a trench, which will be developed into stormwater drain.

Harish Jambur of Saraswathipuram in Arakere said the residents of the apartment wanted to re-align the stormwater drain in order to prevent the demolition of their compound wall. The change in the course of the stormwater drain would have resulted in the demolition of many residential buildings. Due to the intervention of Devaraj, change in the alignment did not happen.

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(Published 25 August 2016, 20:33 IST)

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