Former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Wednesday urged the government to adopt a comprehensive method of clearing encroachments on rajakaluves based on a detailed report and with a humanitarian approach instead of the present method of resorting to demolition as a knee-jerk reaction.
Participating in a debate in the Legislative Assembly on the problems faced by people due to the recent heavy rains, Mr. Kumaraswamy described the ongoing demolition drive against illegal structures that have come up on rajakaluves in Bengaluru as an “adhoc.”
He argued that there was a dire need to have a comprehensive method that would take into considerations all the related issues on a long-term basis and provide a permanent solution to flooding in Bengaluru.
‘Where will you dump debris?’
“I do not know where the government authorities are going to dump the debris of demolished structures. They must take such issues also into consideration,” he argued.
He also stressed the need for having a humanitarian approach with respect to demolition drive. “The big land sharks have already made their profits by developing layouts and constructing either buildings or apartments on rajakaluves and also selling them off to gullible people. The question now is should we punish these innocent buyers and allow the land sharks to go scot free. The proposed comprehensive method of demolition should have a method to reach out to the roots of the problem by targeting the main land sharks rather than evicting only poor people,” he argued.
He urged Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to get a detailed report on the entire episode of encroachment of rajakaluves in different areas of Bengaluru and the methods of handling them instead of resorting to demolition of a few structures in a hurry.
Laxman Rau report
Pointing out that the State Cabinet had adopted a stand of not closing any tank, even if it is dried up, in 1985, based on a report by bureaucrat Laxman Rau, Mr. Kumaraswamy said the subsequent governments had acted against such a stand by closing down a series of tanks in Bengaluru. In fact, Bengaluru Development Authority was the main culprit as it closed down a slew of prominent lakes in Bengaluru to develop residential layouts, he alleged.
