180 footpath encroachments in Mahadevapura zone cleared

Over 180 footpath encroachments were cleared in all the wards of the Mahadevapura zone in the latest drive conducted by the BBMP.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, which kickstarted the drive last week, has completed the first round of the encroachment-removal drive. “We have just begun our second round of the removal drive. We will see to it that the repeated offenders are nabbed from now,” said Parameshwaraiah, chief engineer, BBMP.

The Palike also demolished some of the permanent fixtures on the footpaths. “There were plenty of fixtures that had become permanent on the footpaths. They were ignored by the BBMP for some years now. We have cleared them all,” he added.

It was only a few days ago that the BBMP pulled down cables dangling from trees and electricity poles in the zone as a part of ongoing special crackdown on illegal optical fibre cables (OFCs) in the city.

“Before penalising the repeated offenders in this case, we would like to verify details as most of them would have legitimate permissions. We will check their documents, validate them and then conduct the next round of the removal drive,” said Parameshwaraiah.

“We are conducting so many drives at a time. We will focus on the quality of work, rather than pushing it to wind up soon. Our next target is to clear illegal hoardings in all the wards of the zone,” he added.

The Palike is also expected to clear the footpaths at Sarjapura Road soon. The members of Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWAs) in Bellandur have written to the mayor and demanded they make Sarjapur Road, Haralur Road, Bellandur Main Road and Kasavanahalli Road no-vending zones. The RWAs will meet the mayor this Saturday to talk about the same.