All tranquillity was lost at the ‘Mantri Tranquil’ apartments off Kanakapura Main Road on Tuesday as BBMP’s earth movers demolished a part of the compound wall, catching residents unawares.
Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike workers, who arrived with at least 20 policemen, claimed that the apartment was encroaching on a storm water drain. Residents protested by squatting in front of the earth movers even as a portion of the compound wall was brought down.
Sumana Bhat said, “I received a call from home around 11 a.m. informing me about the demolition. I rushed back from my office in Harohalli. We protested for an hour to ensure that they could not proceed further. The BBMP officials left around 2 p.m.”
President of the Residents’ Association, M.S. Raghuram, claimed that they had not been informed about the demolition. On July 30 this year, they got a notice stating that the building had encroached on a storm water drain. Residents filed a writ petition in the High Court questioning the notice.
“The hearing was scheduled for Tuesday. We requested BBMP workers to hold on until the court had ruled on our petition, but they did not listen to us,” he said.
Residents said there was no mention of the storm water drain in any document provided to them at the time of occupancy. “The apartment plan was approved by the Bangalore Development Authority and BBMP had issued a khata. Now, they are showing a map dated 1905 and claiming that there is a storm water drain,” said P.S. Kulkarni, Managing Committee member of the association.
The residents also alleged that there was no clear point of reference marking the location of the storm water drain. “There is a lot of land extending beyond our apartment complex. Why was our apartment land selectively chosen for the demolition?” a resident said.
Meanwhile, residents got temporary relief as the High Court stayed the BBMP’s actions.
Civic officials, however, said there was no stay order at the time of the demolition and they will now await the court’s decision. They claimed that they had conducted a survey of the storm water drain and denied issuing khata for the apartment.
