Siddu govt protecting land grabbers, says Kumaraswamy

Says government had not even issued notices to them in this regard

Former chief minister and JD(S) State president H D Kumaraswamy has said that the Siddaramaiah government was not forthcoming with information pertaining to lakes and was thus protecting land grabbers.

Kumaraswamy, who is also the member of the House Committee on lake protection, said the government had not only failed to take action against a single official for creating false documents and allowing the creation of illegal layouts, it had not even issued notices to them in this regard.

 In a letter addressed to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, dated May 12, Kumaraswamy has attacked the Revenue department for refusing to furnish pertinent details about the lakes in Bengaluru Urban and Rural districts, despite his repeated attempts to seek them as member of the House Committee.

Without the required information, it will not be possible for the House Committee to furnish any report, he said.

He has said that he had sought details pertaining to the reclassification of the boundaries of lakes with individual survey numbers – an exercise taken up between 1960 and 1965; the number of lakes that were de-reserved in Bengaluru Urban and Rural; the number of private developers permitted to develop layouts, and the like.

The JD(S) leader also attacked the government for going ahead with the demolition drive without conducting a proper survey and ascertaining who the actual encroachers were.
He pointed out that the government had assured to appoint 200 surveyors to survey the lakes, but had not done so.