Palike not acting against fire safety violators: BJP corporator

Despite the fire department’s letter to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) asking it to cancel occupancy certificates (OC) of 152 buildings for violating fire safety norms, the Palike has not acted on it, said BJP corporator Umesh Shetty.

During the BBMP council meeting on Thursday, Shetty said the Director General of Police (Fire and Emergency Services) M N Reddi submitted a detailed report last December with the recommendation. He said the report names many commercial buildings, malls and some residential apartments, which have violated building byelaws.

Shetty added that violations were life-threatening and in the event of any fire, the fire brigade may not be able to reach the spot. Hence, the OC should be cancelled, the report says.

Shetty also pointed out that many buildings violating building byelaws have come up due to the negligence of the Palike engineers. He said there are instances where at least two to three extra floors were built in violation of the floor area ratio (FAR). He cited some instances in Bommanahalli and Rajarajeshwari Nagar zones, where many buildings have come up.

When Mayor B N Manjunath Reddy sought details, Bommanahalli Joint Commissioner N Muniraju told the Council that he has identified 16 buildings in HSR Layout, which violated building byelaws. Three notices have been served and the final notice, which is the demolition order, will be issued in 15 days.Later, the Mayor instructed officials to cancel the OCs of the buildings which violate byelaws and order their demolition.

‘Habitual complainant’

Mayor B N Manjunath Reddy on Thursday rubbished the accusations by former corporator and BJP leader N R Ramesh, who said that the Palike released funds out of the way for three Assembly constituencies of Byatarayanapura, KR Puram and Rajarajeshwari Nagar.

He said that Ramesh has a habit of lodging complaints with the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF), who summon the engineers and harass them.