BMP issuing notices to building violators

BMP issuing notices to building violators
Deccan Herald

Corporator for Koramangala B Mohan has felt the need for extending the BMP survey to all the 100 wards instead of singling out Koramangala.

The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) has begun serving notices to those who have violated building bye-laws and zoning plans in Koramangala, according to Mayor R Narayanaswamy.

Speaking to Deccan Herald on Sunday, the Mayor said Palike has no option but to implement the court orders. “The Palike Commissioner began issuing notices on Friday. The notice has also been served to those petitioners, who had filed PIL against buildings that have come up against norms, as they too are found violating rules”, he pointed out.

The High Court’s strictures after hearing the Koramangala building violation case has thrown up many a questions before the BMP. Soon after the residents group filed its case, and the BMP initiated a survey of the buildings and the areas in contention, Koramangala corporator B Mohan had noted that the survey was unfair. At a BMP council meeting, he had called for a survey of building plan violations in all the 100 wards of BMP instead of singling out Koramangala.

His comments were not furthered in the council as it would have amounted to contempt of court. But it was not as if he did not have the sympathy of fellow corporators. As expressed recently in the words of a corporator who is also a member of the Standing Committee on Town Planning and Development ‘at this rate entire Bangalore city will have to be demolished.’

There could be over a lakh buildings in Bangalore that are in violation of their sanctioned plans, it is better to go in for minor changes and regularise the buildings that are already up and thriving, and get strict with all new and future plans, he said. The standing committee is open for changes in building bye-laws, he said.

A corporator who is among the senior most members in the BMP council felt that areas like Jayanagar and Koramangala where private citizens dwell have become soft targets. Building violations in old Bangalore areas like Shivajinagar or Cantonment or Chikpet hardly ever come under the scanner because of the political clout in these areas, he said. However, he was clear that the misuse of basements and parking spaces must not be tolerated.

Meanwhile, a corporator representing an old Bangalore area noted that the BMP’s Standing Committee on Appeals had in 2001 itself sought an increase in the measure of compoundable violation of building plans from the present 5 per cent to 25 per cent.

Does the BMP see itself being asked to crack down in its entire limits following the Koramangala case? A prominent authority among the BMP’s elected representatives left much unsaid when he noted that the action in Koramangala has been necessitated by a complaint from the residents themselves.

Meanwhile, a senior administrative officer said ‘Somebody should first decide whether Bangalore should have a horizontal growth or vertical growth...’

The BMP Commissioner had stated that changes to sanction of building plans is under consideration. Provisional sanction may be given upon submission of a plan and final sanction kept pending until after three inspections during various stages of construction, he had said.