Post demolition, family spends night in shelter

The demolition drive carried out by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Saturday was nothing short of a nightmare for the occupants of the razed houses.

  
At least 15 houses were demolished by the Palike in its drive to clear encroachments on Raja Kaluves at Avani Shrungerinagar in Arekere, off Bannerghatta Road.

Pradeep Rao (59) and his wife Usha are mustering the courage to move on with their life. This family of six members,  including a pregnant woman, was the worst affected during the drive.

Two spacious bedrooms, a hall, as well as a portion of the kitchen and toilet had turned into rubble after the BBMP pulled it down. The family had to sleep in a small room and Rao’s son Dilip spent the night sleeping outside the house, surrounded by household materials. “We shifted our pregnant daughter-in-law to a friend’s house. My son’s friends set up a makeshift shelter at the entrance of the house where we park our vehicles,” Rao said.

Life in debt

With all their savings spent on buying the property, the family is in deep debt now. “It’s not an illegal land. We bought it for several lakhs. For the last 10 years, we are repaying the loan in the bank,” Rao said.

We have the sale deed, property tax receipt, betterment charges, A Khata and electricity connection documents. I have to live all my life in debt now and that too without a home,” Rao’s wife Usha said showing government-approved land documents to this reporter.

The occupants, who were staying in the second floor on lease, are asking us to return the amount, she said.

The two houses in the same area that were razed by BBMP were vacant as the occupants had moved in to their relatives’ houses. Six other property owners only lost a small portion of their houses. Some of them had hired private engineers after the BBMP damaged more than the designated portion of other houses during the drive. One such house owner Pradeep Baliga said, “We got private civil engineers’ advise while BBMP officials were on the demolition drive. This helped us retain legitimate portion of the building. We have given it in writing to the BBMP that we would realign the building in three days,” he said.

However, the realignment option was not given to all property owners. “Our house was demolished before the BBMP commissioner arrived at the spot. Others had this option to engage private engineers and got realigned their houses. Had the commissioner arrived before 10.30 am, our house would have been saved,” said Rao’s daughter Shilpa Pawar.