Bid to check building bylaw violations comes to nought

Palike looks the other way as RWAs highlight cases galore

Whistle-blowers and Residents Welfare Associations have been doing their bit in tackling the rampant violation of building bye-laws in the City. But their efforts have come to nought due to the negligence of the government officers concerned.

Members of Residents’ Welfare Association Bangalore East (REWABE), Cooke Town, have been fighting for over 18 months against building bye-law violators in their area.No action has been taken, despite submitting memorandums to BBMP officials and meeting City in-charge Minister Ramalinga Reddy.

In November 2013, the members approached Karnataka Appellate Tribunal (KAT). N Ramesh, president of REWABE, said: “The civic agency had issued demolition notices to builders, but never razed the structures. We approached KAT, when the builders filed an appeal for staying the demolition. During the hearing of the cases, either BBMP officials failed to turn up or did not produce documents required.”

T Parasmal Jain, a senior citizen from Chamarajpet, brought to the notice of Palike officials the unauthorised construction of a commercial building on OTC Road, Chickpet Main Road, eight years ago. However, there has been no response to his queries till date.
 
“The building not just violates bye-laws, but has also encroached on the stormwater drain (SWD) and footpath. Since 2005, I have been filing complaints not just with the Palike, but also with the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF), Governor, Lokayukta, Law Minister, police and others,” said Jain.

“In April, we wrote a letter to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah about the matter. I have spent more than Rs 10,000 in the last few years on travelling, getting the required documents through RTI and meeting officers. It is unfortunate that my efforts have gone down the drain.”  

One of the whistle-blowers from Hennur who did not wish to be named said that he had raised his voice against a structure built in violation of building bye-laws in his locality. “I informed the Palike engineers and corporator, but they seemed least bothered.”

Palike Commissioner M Lakshminarayana said building bye-law violations had always been there and they were trying their best to deal with the problem.

“We are focusing on strengthening the BBMP squad that deals with demolition of illegal buildings in its limits,” he said.