Govt wakes up to bye-law violations

Govt wakes up to bye-law violations
Deccan Herald

The State government will study the largescale violation of building by-laws in City Municipal Council limits around Bangalore, Chief Minister Dharam Singh said on Wednesday. The study has been prompted by the floods and human misery witnessed in the CMC areas in the last few days due to encroachment of lake beds and natural drains, he said. “We will look into why it happened... On what basis the CMCs sanctioned the buildings on the lakes, ” the chief minister said.

Deputy Chief Minister M P Prakash noted that the merger of the seven CMCs and the lone TMC with the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike was under ‘serious consideration’ by the government. BMP Commissioner Jothiramalingam said BMP has assigned the Rs 500 crore project to STUP consultants to prepare the plan.

Damage estimate

About Rs 70 crore is the preliminary estimate of the rain wrought damage in Bangalore this month. The figure is for the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike area alone. The damages are being assessed separately in the BMP and the Bangalore Urban district limits and the actual figures of both are expected to be known on Thursday.

The same was made known at a media conference chaired by Chief Minister Dharam Singh on Wednesday just after he visited few affected areas in the city. According to BMP Commissioner Jothiramalingam the Rs 70 crore preliminary estimate is as on Monday and does not include the damages suffered in the deluge on Tuesday and after. Damaged storm water drains and roads, and collapsed houses, buildings and walls are prominent in the list being accounted for losses, he said.

BMP Council decided on compensation for the rain affected: a sum of Rs 1 lakh for the next of the deceased and Rs 5,000 for a house collapse.