Resident says BBMP official harassing him for objecting to shop's plan violation

A senior citizen in Malleswaram is paying the price for lodging a complaint against a commercial building in a residential area. BBMP engineers have moved ahead to demolish his building and have disconnected the water and sewerage line.

Septuagenarian B R Gopal Rao, a national swimmer, had lodged a complaint against a commercial building in the residential area.

“Shreyas Garments on 10th Cross, West Park Road in Malleswaram, had come up in the residential area. The shop in the basement of the building was meant for parking. There is no parking space left due to which customers park their vehicles in front of our houses. So, we lodged a complaint with the Upalokayukta,” said Rao, who is also the president of Malleswaram Residents’ Welfare Association.

Rao claimed that assistant executive engineer Govindaraj put pressure on him to withdraw the complaint but he remained firm on his decision.

“We had even approached BBMP health officer Lokesh who said he did not issue any trade licence and hence, Govindaraj has to initiate action,” said Rao.

When repeated complaints to Govindaraj did not yield any result, Rao complained against him to the Upalokayukta.

“Govindaraj has now started targeting my neurologist son Dr Deepak Pawar, who is constructing a house in Patankar Layout on 13th Cross, 6th Main, Malleswaram. My son has demolished the old building and constructing a new one there,” said Rao.

When the construction was in progress, Govindaraj issued a notice of building plan violation. Even before Rao and his family could respond, he ordered its demolition. Rao and his family approached the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal and obtained a stay.

Rao said Govindaraj reached Patankar Layout with a team of about 15 gangmen on Wednesday, dug up the road and destroyed the sewerage line. Rao has once again lodged a complaint with the Upalokayukta in this regard against the assistant executive engineer.

When contacted, Govindaraj said Rao had dug up the road for laying the sewerage line without paying the road-cutting charges. He added that he has nothing personal against the Raos. He clarified that checking commercial activities comes under the health division of the BBMP.

Rao trashed his statement saying that there was no need for him to dig up the road to lay a new pipeline as there already existed a pipeline. He also claimed that the health officer had clearly stated in his RTI reply that he has not issued licence to Shreyas Garments and action has to be taken by the ward engineer concerned.