Bengaluru Demolition Drive: It'll go on for four months, says BBMP

Bengaluru, Aug 16: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike's (BBMP) Raja Kaluve demolition drive, which started on August 5, is likely to go on for about four months.

That's the amount of time Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has given the BBMP to free the city's storm-water drains of all encroachments, BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad told OneIndia.

The BBMP has identified 1,100 properties illegally built on storm-water drains, and it has brought down some 130 offending properties so far, he said, even as the bulldozers stood by to begin another round of demolitions on Tuesday morning in the Dasarahalli zone.

Apart from Dasarahalli Zone, the civic body will also demolish some properties that had escaped the bulldozers last week in Yelahanka, Bommanahalli and Bengaluru East Zone.

Besides, BBMP will continue to mark the proportion of encroachments that are to be razed.

The Joint Commissioner of Bengaluru East K.C. Yatish Kumar said, "We have to mark illegal structures in Shivajinagar and Ulsoor areas. Once the marking is done, the demolitions will begin." Demolitions had been completed at Obalapura, he added.

Mahadevapura Zone Joint Commissioner M. Muniveerappa said that in his zone, encroached properties in areas from Kasavanahalli to Kaigondanahalli had been bulldozed. "We have to remove the debris and open the channels to facilitate remodeling of the storm-water drains", he added.

Manjunath Prasad said that the BBMP will ensure that in four months, all illegal structures on storm-water drains in all eight zones of Bengaluru are demolished.

The BBMP has put online revenue records of encroached properties and has given the option to property owners to bring down violations themselves. If they fail to remove the illegal structures, the BBMP will do it, he warned.

OneIndia News