Residents seek action against officials

Residents seek action against officials
Deccan Herald

Buildings don’t come up overnight. What were the officials doing then, runs the argument of some. Go ahead with the crackdown, at least corruption will come down, say the others. Either way, they were speaking about ‘the official’.

When Deccan Herald sought the response of people in trade and industry to the crackdown on building bye-law violations and zonal regulations in Koramangala, everyone wanted action against ‘the official’. Addressing the official’s role or connivance that encouraged people to violate norms, should be part of the crackdown, they said.

Demolitions were no answer when buildings had already come up and had been occupied, was also the majority view. Hard earned money had been spent on these structures, the government should regularise them after slapping penalties, they said.

“Many people are responsible for the mess. What were the engineers of the BMP/BDA doing when these buildings came up? Aren’t they the ones who issued the occupation certificates”, queried Mr V K Goyal, President, Federation of Trade Association of Central Bangalore. Wherever a residential building had been rented out for commercial purpose the tenant would have invested a lot of money in setting up and decorating the shop, he observed.

“Owners or builders have no choice. If you bribe the official you are let off. If you don’t, you’re harassed. The role of the officials should be looked into”, said Mr Jameel Jamaal President of Crockery and Glassware Merchants Association. “The builder or the owner is out of the picture, and the tenant has no insurance on the investment made in setting up the shop”, he observed.

Mr Suhail Yusuff, President of Brigade Road Shops and Establishments Association, noted that the positive aspect of the drive was that corruption would come down. Examples of public inconvenience caused by building bye-law violations were aplenty on Brigade Road itself, he observed and said, “Officials who connive with builders retire and get away, it is the public who suffer.”

Mr Prakash Mandoth, President Jayanagar Traders Association opined that if demolitions are the way to go, it should begin with the encroachments seen on government land.

Referring to Jayanagar, he noted that though originally residential Jayanagar 9th, 10th and 11th Main Roads were all commercial areas now. The BMP permitted it to grow and in terms of employment and revenue returns the benefits had been many, he said.

Mr S K Sanghvi, a Managing Committee member of FKCCI, opined that demolitions were “a huge waste of crores of rupees”. A ‘compensation formula’ should be worked out, he said. The very officials who encouraged the violations were demolishing them now, he said.

SECOND DAY

Bangalore, DHNS: In Koramangala the residents protesting agai-nst the drive on violation of building bye-laws and zonal regulations observed a bundh for the second day on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day the residents under the banner of the Koramangala Welfare Association blocked traffic on the 80 ft road for about an hour. Shops and other establishments, however, opened after 2 pm. “We will keep a vigil on men and machinery of the BMP” said Association president Mr Ramesh Reddy.

From Wednesday onwards the bundh will be observed for two-hours in the morning and evening (7 am to 9 am, and, 6 pm to 8 pm), Mr Reddy said.

No untoward incident was reported during the bundh on Tuesday, police said.