‘99 p.c. of the houses in Bangalore are built in violation of building bylaws’
M. Nagaraj, President, Karnataka Engineers’ Federation, urged Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar to amend the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act. He was speaking at the valedictory ceremony of the 152nd birth anniversary celebrations of Sir M. Visvesvaraya organised by the federation in Bangalore on Saturday.
Mr. Nagaraj said that if the Act was not amended, all the engineers working in the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike would be behind bars. “Ninety nine per cent of the houses in Bangalore are built in violation of building bylaws,” he said while describing the hardships being faced by the engineers in the wake of the fact that the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) has booked several cases under the KMC Act against engineers holding them responsible for unauthorised constructions.
“People bring pressure on engineers and construct buildings. Engineers cannot keep watch on the construction of every building in the city. We do not want to blame anyone like politicians or others, including the head of BMTF R.P. Sharma, but engineers cannot be held responsible for every violation,” he said.
Pointing out that people are also equally responsible for unauthorised constructions and violation of building bylaws, Mr. Nagaraj urged the Chief Minister to regularise unauthorised constructions.
Members of the federation submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister. Among the demands they had listed out were: paying engineers on a par with doctors, celebration of Sir MV’s birth anniversary as Engineers Day, starting Sir MV chair in the University of Mysore, starting a research and training centre at Muddenahalli.
The demand for amending the KMC Act did not find a mention in the memorandum. Even Mr. Shettar did not react to this demand though he promised to look into their other demands.
Keywords: KMC Act, BBMP, Jagadish Shettar, BBMP Engineers, building bylaws
