Demolition drive continues in Banaswadi

 The Bengaluru Urban district administration continued its demolition drive in Banaswadi on Wednesday. The operation which began at 10 am went on for around seven hours.

Three earthmovers began to tore down multi-storey buildings since morning, but could not complete the task by evening given the huge dimension of the buildings.

The operation will be taken up on Wednesday. The 7th ‘A’ Main Road at Subbannapalya, located behind the two demolished buildings wore a deserted look. Some residents had shifted their household articles to safer places fearing that the debris may fall on their houses.

KR Puram Revenue Inspector, Jagannath Reddy said: "Till date about 80 shops has been razed  to ground in Banaswadi. We will complete the demolition of two buildings on Wednesday. A total of 2.37 acres on Banaswadi lakebed has been encroached upon by private parties and out of that, we have reclaimed about 2.20 acres. The land has been handed over to Bangalore Development Authority (BDA).”  

Meanwhile, residents staying in the vicinity said that the move undertaken by Revenue department was unfair and that demolition was being done unscientifically.

Pointing out towards the cracks on the walls of her house, Judy Veneza said: “My house is right behind the building being demolished. Due to the constant drilling, the wall has developed cracks and we fear the whole house might collapse any moment."

Suresh N P, a shop vendor said that he will be loosing four sites that includes two shops and two houses.

He said:  “They had given notices earlier, but we want to know what will the Revenue department get by demolishing. The authorities were silent all these years and what is the reason for their action now?”

The residents in the evening met Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner V Shankar and submitted a memorandum requesting not to demolish the houses in the layout developed by BDA at Subbannapalya.

Revenue Inspector Jagannath Reddy said that no houses built in BDA layout will be demolished as of now and further action will be taken as per the court directions.