Koramangala residents to observe bandh today

Koramangala residents to observe bandh today

The Hindu

They will take out a rally in protest against BMP demolition drive

# Association stand The city is full of buildings constructed in violation of bylaws
# We admit we have deviated from the original sanctioned plan
# We have not encroached upon anyone's property
# Government should regularise deviations and earn more revenue

BANGALORE: To protest against the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike's (BMP) demolition of unauthorised buildings in Koramangala, residents of the area have announced a bandh on Monday.

Over 5,000 residents will take out a rally from Devi Mona Basket Ball Grounds in Koramangala 5th Block to Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy's home office. The residents, who are upset following the demolition of four unauthorised buildings in Koramangala 3rd and 5th blocks by the BMP on Thursday, will submit a memorandum to the Chief Minister urging him to direct the BMP to regularise the deviations.

Addressing presspersons here on Sunday, general secretary of Koramangala Welfare Association J. Ramesh said the residents were ready to pay for a one-time regularisation of deviations.

"Why are the authorities targeting only Koramangala? `The city is full of deviations.' We admit that we have deviated from the original sanctioned plan. But all deviations are within our compound. We have not encroached upon anyone's property," Mr. Ramesh said.

BMP officials blamed

Holding the BMP officials responsible for the problem, Mr. Ramesh said: "What were the officials doing till the deviated portions were built? They have not come up overnight. Moreover, the BMP has been accepting property tax at commercial rates for all the buildings that have been commercialised. How can they demolish the structures now?"

Mr. Ramesh urged the Government to fix a cut-off date and regularise all deviations that had come up before that date. This way the Government could earn additional revenue and use it for infrastructure development, he said.

Following a direction from the Karnataka High Court in November last year, the BMP conducted a survey of buildings being reportedly used for commercial purposes, in violation of zoning regulations, in Koramangala. This direction came after some residents filed a public interest litigation petition pointing out that many buildings had been constructed in violation of BMP bylaws and several commercial complexes were located in residential zones.

The BMP while undertaking the survey had clarified that certain categories of commercial use such as restaurants, grocery and general stores and laundries could be operated in residential zones but not others. In Koramangala, several buildings were found to house firms related to information technology and IT-enabled services such as Business Process Outsourcing.

The BMP has identified over a 100 buildings that have been built in violation of building bylaws and served notices to the owners. In November, the civic body had demolished four buildings. The drive, which had stopped after protests by residents, resumed on Thursday when four more buildings were razed.