Uncertainty as BBMP moves to clear 400 slum families at Gangashetty Lake

Bengaluru: Over 400 families, who made a portion of Gangashetty Lake in eastern Bengaluru their home for 30 years, may have to face the trouble of finding a roof over their heads once again. 

In an attempt to clear encroachments, the BBMP has shot off a letter to the Karnataka Slum Development Board to rehabilitate the slum dwellers who have “encroached upon” about three acres of lake land in KR Puram.

The 14 encroachers also include the Revenue Department, which is the custodian of the government property but has built the tahsildar’s office right inside the lake land.

In its letters to the slum board and the Bengaluru Urban district administration, the civic body has cited the recent court orders and instructions of the Legislature Committee (on assurances) which is following up with the removal of encroachments at the 21.27-acre Gangashetty Lake. 

The letter points out that the encroachers refused to vacate the lake land displaying the title deeds issued by the Revenue Department and the identity card given by the slum board. “We request you to rehabilitate them as per the law so that the process of clearing the encroachments can be initiated to revive the water body,” the BBMP’s letter states. 

The letter also mentions that KR Puram MLA Byrathi Basavaraj objected to fixing boundary marks until the slum dwellers were rehabilitated.

When the first letter dated May last year did not yield any response, the civic body sent three reminders subsequently.

B Venkatesh, the slum board commissioner, said the deputy commissioner had earmarked around one acre of land in Medahalli (near Hoskote) to rehabilitate the encroachers.

“The process of rehabilitation can only begin after declaring Rajiv Gandhi Nagar and Sanjay Nagar as slums. We will do it in the next board meeting. As per the rule, we can provide alternative sites to them but they have to incur the cost of building the house,” he said.

Maruthi, who lives in the slum that has come up on the lake land, wondered why the BBMP was focusing only on clearing the slums.

“We have been living here since 1992. The government has provided all facilities to us, including water supply, electricity connection and title deeds. We are willing to vacate the place provided an alternative land within BBMP limits is given to us,” he said. 

The lake, he said, is not just encroached upon by the poor but also private builders and the government, referring to the tahsildar’s office, a traffic police station, a pump house and a road that have come up inside the lake land. 

Basavaraj said the alternative land in Medahalli was enough to rehabilitate only 200 families.

“The government should provide another two acres so that the lake can be revived without causing problems to the poor.”