Survey process begins near Mantri Tranquil

Following directions from the Karnataka High Court as well as Upa Lokayukta Justice Subhash B Adi, the Bangalore Urban district authorities and the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike engineers have started the exercise of surveying the stormwater drain (SWD) on the upstream and the downstream of Mantri Tranquil in Gubbalala off Kanakapura Road.

BBMP Executive Engineer (SWD) has written a letter to the Deputy Director of Land Records (DDLR) Raja Nayak to provide the latest survey sketches of the SWD on the upstream of Mantri Tranquil.

Hearing the case of tank bed layout, illegally formed by the BDA on Venkatarayana Kere right behind the Mantri Tranquil, Upa Lokayukta Justice Subhash Adi directed the Bangalore South Tahsildar Dr Dayananda to survey the entire Rajakaluve on the upstream of the tank identifying all the encroachments. He also instructed him to identify all the structures that are coming up within the buffer zone of the tank.

Based on the direction, Dr Dayananda too has written a letter to Nayak as well as the Assistant Director of Land Records (ADLR) Anand Kumar to prepare the latest survey sketch of SWD of Venkatarayana Kere and Subramanyapura Lake.

The BBMP has accused Mantri Developers of encroaching upon the SWD that leads to Subramanyapura Lake near Uttarahalli and ordered the developer and the residents to clear illegal occupation. This forced the developer to approach the Karnataka High Court seeking relief from the BBMP’s action. When the case was in progress, the BBMP started its demolition drive, which prompted the developer to seek a stay from the court.

Ordering an ad-interim stay against the demolition on October 28, High Court Judge Justice Ram Mohan Reddy noted, “In the absence of relevant material constituting substantial legal evidence of the fact of starting point of the storm water drain and its ending point and the nature of development having taken place at the starting point or ending point, it would be in futility to continue the exercise of identifying drains in petitioners’ property.

“Therefore, the authorities are directed to place before the Court relevant material particulars of the starting point of the drain and what development activity has taken place and the number of drains cut besides the public road and other material particulars including the topography and gradients of the entire layouts beside the property in question.”