Bengaluru Demolition Drive: Now, Manyata Tech Park in BBMP's sights

Bengaluru, Aug 17: Manyata Tech Park, which houses some of the best known technology companies in Bengaluru, may soon be one of the targets of the ongoing demolition drive in the city, where hitherto authorities have only demolished illegal portions of individual homes, opening themselves upto the charge that the big builders are being let off.

Manyata has come under the scanner of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), which plans to carry out a survey of the tech park "on priority" to check if any portion of it sits on a storm-water drain or Raja Kaluve.

"We will carry out a survey of Manyata Tech Park to check if it is encroaching on storm-water drains," Yelahanka Joint Commissioner Sarfaraz Khan told OneIndia.

This is not the tech park's first brush with the civic body on this issue. Last year, the BBMP had demolished a bridge inside the tech park that had been built on a storm-water drain. The tech park had even diverted the water channel to facilitate expansion of the 300-acre facility at Nagawara near Hebbal.

Khan recalled that "the BBMP found Manyata diverting a storm-water drain after a 14-year-old boy drowned in a canal inside the tech park on October 7, 2015." A criminal case was also filed against the tech park.

The tech park authorities had installed pipes to divert and reduce the flow of water in the drain so they could build the bridge to allow for the movement of vehicles, Khan explained, adding that the BBMP had taken a serious view of the matter and demolished the bridge after the boy's death.

Chief Engineer, Yelahanka Zone, Parameshwaraiah said the BBMP will survey Manyata Tech Park "on priority" and declared, "We will demolish all encroachments."

OneIndia News