HDK to release his own report on B'luru lakes

He dares govt to demolish structures in posh illegal layouts

JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy on Thursday charged the Siddaramaiah government with protecting the residents of posh layouts illegally created by BDA and challenged the government to demolish structures in these layouts too.

He hinted that he had no confidence in the report to be submitted by the House Committee headed by K B Koliwad on lake protection, as the government was “bound to influence” the contents of the report. He said that he would, in turn, furnish a detailed report on the lakes in Bengaluru. Kumaraswamy is one of the members of the committee.
Interacting with reporters here, Kumaraswamy said that the government was exhibiting double standards by trying to regularise the illegal layouts.

‘Poor victimised’

Mocking Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for calling himself an ‘Ahinda’ leader, he wondered why it was that the government had victimised only the poor by demolishing their houses, during the drive to clear encroachments on lake beds.

“Are the residents of 50x80 sites in these posh layouts poor? Are they vegetable vendors or downtrodden, for the chief minister to be protecting them? Scores of dalit, backward classes and minority community people have been pushed to the streets during the demolition drive. How can Siddaramaiah call himself an Ahinda leader? Why is that there is differential treatment between the haves and the have nots? Let the government demolish properties in the posh layouts too and rehabilitate the house owners under the Ashraya scheme,” he said.

The former chief minister said that as member of the committee, he had asked it to recommend to the government to resume the demolition drive after the members submitted the report.

He said that he had convened a public meeting on Sunday to discuss the various aspects of the issue, and invited retired officers including Siddaiah, Jaiker Jerome, K Jairaj, former Lokayukta Santosh Hegde and freedom fighter H S Doreswamy to participate.

5,000-page report

He said that he was working on a 5,000-page report on the lakes of Bengaluru, which would include information pertaining to water bodies, 1932 onwards.

He said that he was investing six to seven hours every day to prepare the report, which he said would be made public in the next few months. The report would be uploaded on a website.