BBMP builds gym on site meant for library

The BBMP has constructed a two-storey building for a gymnasium on prime land originally allotted to a public library.

What is more, it has taken no plan approval although the construction is almost done. The site is in Kengeri Satellite Town.

The authorities took up the work in a hurry, skipping tender procedures.

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Documents show that the BDA had allotted a civic amenity (CA) site, measuring about 4,000 sq ft, to the Department of Public Libraries in February 2010.

The 30-year lease agreement says the site should be used only for a public library and not for commercial purposes.

Another condition is that the property should not be subdivided or alienated, either wholly or in part.

A two-storey building has come up in violation of all these conditions, with four shops on the ground floor. The two upper floors are vacant at the moment.

A BBMP executive engineer, in charge of the construction, said the civic body had taken approval from the Department of Public Libraries.

“A gymnasium will come up on one floor. We haven’t decided what to do on the remaining floors,” he said.

It is learnt that the Department of Public Libraries was under political pressure to allow the BBMP to construct the building.

The structure has come up at a cost of Rs 1.75 crore, with Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Ltd (KRIDL), exempted from floating tenders for civil works, executing the project.

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In July 2020, the libraries department authorities had turned down the BBMP’s request for permission to build a gym on the CA site. However, it had said it would consent to the construction of a digital library.

Unhappy with the response, the BBMP’s projects wing wrote back, this time attaching a letter from Yeshwanthpur MLA S T Somashekar, now minister for co-operation.

Two months later, in September 2020, the libraries department took a U-turn and allowed the BBMP to begin construction, citing the minister’s letter.

B M Shivakumar, president of Jayaprakash Narayana Vedike, a group crusading against corruption, said the BBMP and the department were denying people a library.

“When the BDA was planning to use the site for shops, citizens protested and forced it to return it to the libraries department. The BBMP has no business building two storeys on a CA site,” he said.

The libraries department, he said, should take back the site and use the building to create a digital library.

A library helps thousands of people, and is especially useful to those taking up competitive exams. The BBMP took no building approval before starting construction, he alleged.