BBMP plans big crackdown on buildings that flout bylaws

If you're one of those who altered the sanctioned plan to build your dream house, it's likely that the heat of summer will be upon you much ahead of the season.

Officials of the BBMP have finally decided to go on a massive inspection drive, beginning January 31, to issue notices or rectify buildings according to the plan sanction.

Property owners do not seem to be bothered about such violations as BBMP officials were on a snooze mode for a long time.

Shakeel Ahmed, BBMP chairman, standing committee for town planning and improvement, assured that the civic authority would crackdown on properties that violated plan sanctions. Even the B-khata properties will not be spared from the scrutiny, which would begin from Yelahanka and Mahadevapura.

While officials would take a closer look at properties built over stormwater drains in the city, they would find out if such buildings have altered the rajakaluves because they stood in the way.

"I have written to BBMP commissioner (N Manjunath Prasad) and also to the legal cell regarding rampant building bylaw violations in the city," said Ahmed.

The inspection is good news for those affected by unauthorised construction, like Commodore Jai Nath Misra, a 78-year-old retired armyman residing in Jal Vayu Vihar in Kammanahalli since 1996.

A property owner in his apartment complex altered the sanctioned plan and built a house on the terrace. He first blocked the main stairway and then blocked the access to the terrace itself.

"The plan sanction was given to construct two floors, but the owner has built a house on the third floor and has closed the main staircase," said Jai's son Rohit Misra.

"He has made a small hole in the wall to the staircase. Now, it's virtually impossible to access the tank and solar water heater," he added.

About half of the 540 flats in the apartment complex have violated the plan, he said.

A more common example of plan violation is evident in Balaji Layout in Hemmigepura (ward number 198), where two houses have built more than three floors and left no space for parking. "They were parking their cars on roads. Following the BBMP's orders, they knocked down the first floor and made space for parking," said V K Srivatsa, a nearby resident.

The BBMP commissioner said 16,390 properties in the city have not received Occupancy Certificates (OCs) due to plan violations over the past one year. "We had received about 16,500 applications and the certificate is given to only 110 of them," Prasad said.

"Some may not have violated the plan sanction. However, there might be other reasons and I have asked Raghu, additional director of town planning, to submit a report on this," he further added.

He also said applications received through Akrama-Sakrama to regularise violations is on hold as a case in the matter is still going on in the apex court.