Apartment complex was built on disputed land

Builder had approval for ground plus two floors only

 The apartment block which collapsed on Monday was apparently built on disputed land and had violated many norms.

M Lakshminarayana, Commissioner of BBMP, said that the builder had got a plan approved for ground plus two floors, whereas he had built a seven-storey building, a clear violation. He said that in the last couple of months, BBMP had issued two notices for the violation and sought the immediate discontinuation of construction work.

However, it went on unabated. He said that the local assistant executive engineer Panchaksharaiah and assistant engineer Santosh Kumar would be suspended immediately, holding them accountable for the violation.

Residents had complained of the upcoming apartment complex to the authorities many months ago. They were worried that in a narrow bylane, a hundred flats were coming up, leading to a lot of congestion. The said apartment complex was the third on the same road built by the same builder, popularly known among the residents as Saleem Bhai, of R K Gold Builders. Girish, a local resident, said that the seven-storey building had come up in just nine months.

Saleem Bhai evokes a mixed feeling among the residents of the area. On a plot of 16,000 sq ft, Saleem has built an apartment complex that has 104 houses – 52 in each block. All the flats are single-room tenements. However, most of them have already been sold for Rs 14 lakh each.

Known for low-cost housing and optimum utilisation of space, Saleem's apartment blocks had houses built even in the cellar. The apartment block that caved in on Monday had five single bedroom houses built in the cellar.

Nayaz Ahmed, who owns a mobile phone showroom in Jayanagar, told Deccan Herald that he had bought five flats in the complex and had paid Saleem Bhai Rs 36 lakh as advance.

“Now, the building has collapsed. My entire financial stability is at stake. But I don’t blame Saleem Bhai. He is a good man. I hope he repays the money,” he said.

Sharief, a resident of R K Gold apartment, just two blocks away and built by Saleem Bhai two years ago, said that if not for Saleem Bhai, who provided housing at a reasonable cost for the poor, he would not have owned a house.

However, neighbours and old residents of the area beg to differ.

Shivakumar, a local resident, said the land on which the apartment was being built was itself disputed. He said the land was part of the 2.6 acres of land given to the Someshwara temple by the maharajas.

“Anjinappa, who was looking after the land for very long, went to court in 1992 and got the rights over the land under the land reforms. However, he is not entitled to sell it. But he sold off the land to Saleem Bhai two years ago. We will now fight to restore the land to the temple,” he said.

Saleem was unavailable for comment. The police have also been searching for Saleem, a resident of Lakkasandra.