SCHOOL, HOSPITAL AND TRANSPORTER TURN ROAD INTO PRIVATE PROPERTY

SCHOOL, HOSPITAL AND TRANSPORTER TURN ROAD INTO PRIVATE PROPERTY
The entire 390-ft stretch of Hombe Gowda Nagara Cross Road, near Shantinagar, has been encroached upon by three private establishments. There is no access to motorists, public
T S Sreenivasa Raghavan bmfeedback@indiatimes.com


Hombe Gowda Nagara Cross Road, which runs parallel to K H Road and connects BTS Road and H Siddaiah Road, is out of bounds to the public with a ‘No Trespassing’ sign at one end. There are three major establishments on this road: Outreach School and Parijma Neurodiagnostic & Rehabilitation Centre on either side of the BMTC (earlier BTS) Road end and KPN Travels on the Siddaiah Road end. These three establishments have divided the road into two equal portions by erecting a compound wall in the middle of the road.
Interestingly, Hombe Gowda Nagara Cross Road has a first cross, a third cross, a fourth cross and more. However, it doesn’t have a second cross. Siddaiah Road BBMP Sub Divisional Office Assistant Executive Engineer R Anandam confirmed that the cross road in question is BBMP property and has been encroached upon jointly by Outreach School, Parijma Hospital and KPN Travels. “This cross road is actually Hombe Gowda Nagara first street. So, the cross road next to it should become II cross road which is now mentioned as first. So, it’s very clear that while usurping the property someone removed the first cross road signboard and kept it in its present place while the actual signboard of second cross road has been thrown away,” he told
Bangalore Mirror.
LAND WORTH RS 16 CRORE
The motive of the encroachers is not hard to calculate. The school and the hospital now have exclusive entrances, while at the other end, the bus operator has got considerable parking space for its fleet and a special entrance to its bus station. This road is of course prime property with a total area of 10,920 sqft. With the current price being Rs 15,000 per sqft, the property could easily be worth around Rs 16 crore.
CHARGES DENIED
However, Dr Suresh Rao Aroor, Director of Parijma Hospital, denied this charge. “We’ve documents showing it is a private road. That’s why we’ve put up the board warning people not to trespass,” he said.
Anandam revealed that a few months ago, the BBMP had tried to get back this road, but failed.
He added that BBMP was in the process of examining the parent documents of the property to ascertain the facts.
“Till a few years back, this road was open to motorists. Later, the three owners partitioned the road between themselves,” he said.
An activist, who didn’t want to be named, has sought the ownership details of the property under Right to Information Act from the BBMP.