Bescom removes illegal booth

A metal booth that had come up on the footpath is dismantled following a Metrolife report on land grab near the Jayanagar Shopping Complex

Bescom swung into action soon after Metrolife published a story last week on illegal booths coming up on footpaths around the Jayanagar Shopping Complex.

It removed a booth, made of metal, that had appeared overnight illegally near an electricity transformer. No structure can come up within 50 feet of a transformer, according to a Bescom rule.

Bescom workers came in a truck and dismantled the structure on 10th Main, 4th Block.

Land grab is brazen in this well-planned locality, and Metrolife exposed the booth scam in a January 27 story titled ‘Illegal booths spring up on Jayanagar streets’.

Over two years, 15 booths have come up on space meant for pedestrians, many structures appearing overnight two weeks ago. The Jayanagar Shopping Complex Merchants’ Association has complained to the police and the BBMP about the structures.

The article shed light on how a ‘mafia’ collects between Rs 750 and Rs 1,000 a day from each of the 15 booths, where a host of products are sold.

Bescom officials took note of the dangers and got the booth removed soon after the article appeared. A shop owner who was witness to the removal told Metrolife, “They swung into action. We had earlier written to them but they had taken no action till your paper reported on the dangers,” he says.

The Merchants’ Association plans to resubmit a memorandum to the BBMP and the MLA, urging them to relocate the vendors or create a vending zone in Jayanagar where they can carry out their business without affecting the businesses of those housed in the complex. “In the present condition, shoppers have to wade their way through encroached footpaths occupied by vendors and illegal booths to get to the complex. We have lost business from our regular customers. Our businesses are down by 50 per cent because of the encroachments,” says the shop owner.

Residents of Jayanagar have been mute spectators to this once-quiet place turning into a chaotic cluster controlled by illegal vendors and land grabbers.

Ramachandra Rao, who has lived in the area for 62 years, says that booths made of metal have come up all across Jayanagar. “There’s politics behind the installation of these booths. They don’t belong to either the handicapped or the scheduled caste (for whom some booths were initially allowed). It is vote-bank politics as most of them belong to the minority community,” says Ramachandra.

He says he has been witness to BBMP officials and traffic police collecting money from these booths. “There’s a lot of money exchanging hands to keep these illegal businesses running,” he adds.

Jayaraj Shekar, another old-timer, says, “The booths have brought with them pushcart vendors, who litter the place with paper, plastic and other kinds of waste.”

Mr CM, know what’s happening?

Bengaluru development is a portfolio Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has retained. He needs to pay attention to the scam and stop it before it engulfs all of Bengaluru. The BBMP is tightlipped on what is happening in Jayanagar, reinforcing the suspicion that its officials are complicit in the scam.

Metrolife’s efforts to contact the local corporator Nagaraj and MLA Sowmya Reddy yielded no results; they were as elusive as BBMP and police officials responsible for protecting public property. A senior BBMP official says the scam has also spread to Shivajinagar and K R Market.

“While some booths may have permission, most don’t. There’s a group in every area that collects money. Municipal councillors, police and BBMP officials are all hand in glove in this,” he says