BDA move leaves residents isolated

Road destruction cuts off Jnanabharati Layout from schools, hospitals and other areas

Without inspecting the land in the layout, the BDA denotified nearly 150 metres of the public road to the original land owner. At 1 pm on August 8, Munikrishnappa, grandson of Bagalur Munishamappa, the original owner of the two acres and 22 guntas, without any authorisation, destroyed 150 metres of the main road connecting the layout with the rest of the City. When residents questioned him, Munikrishnappa claimed the road was denotified by the BDA, along with a few sites in the vicinity.

The denotification order that surfaced on Monday has left residents jittery about their properties. It is estimated that eight families will be thrown to the streets without any further notices based on BDA’s denotification of the land.

“The road is the only stretch connecting two schools, a hospital and other areas in Jnanabharati Layout,” said Vinayak, a resident of the layout that houses more than 80 families.

Officers from BBMP, when asked to come to the spot by the citizens, were stunned by the audacity of the original owner, who had even demolished four shoulder drains apart from destroying the road. An officer from the Palike said Munikrishnappa had already left, after getting the road demolished using an excavator, by the time they arrived.

According to the officer, the layout was approved in 1999-2000 and was handed over to Kengeri Town Municipal Council (TMC). “Soon after the formation of BBMP, the Palike became the joint custodian of the layout with BDA. We laid the roads and provided civic amenities in the layout, but were not informed about the denotification by BDA,” the officer said.

With attempts made by the Palike officers to reach the BDA engineers yielding no response, they have taken serious note of the offence. The BBMP has now decided to file a complaint with the Kengeri police station for the destruction of public property by Munikrishnappa. “We are left with no choice. We will hold Munikrishnappa and BDA responsible for the destruction of the road,” they said. Initial estimates by the Palike place the damages of the road destruction at Rs 25 lakh to Rs 30 lakh.