The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike has started an anti-encroachment drive to remove illegal structures that have come up on stormwater drains in several areas of Mahadevapura zone of Bengaluru. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
Days before heavy downpour in the city led to flooding, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had identified at least 15 encroachments by various builders and IT parks in Mahadevapura zone.
The document, dated August 17, shows that properties built on various survey numbers in Mahadevapura zone had blocked the water flow on stormwater drains (SWD).
The properties mentioned in the document include Bagmane Tech Park, Rainbow Drive Layout, Wipro, Eco Space, Gopalan in Bellandur, Hoodi and Sonnehalli, Diya School, Adarsha, Columbia Asia Hospital, New Horizon College, Adarsha retreat, Epysion and DiyaShree, Prestige, Salarpuria and Adarsha and Nalapad.
A senior BBMP official confirmed to The Hindu that these properties on different survey numbers have encroached upon the SWD. “A notice has been issued to these builders and soon we will conduct an anti-encroachment drive against these properties. The survey was conducted last month and notices were served to these properties,” he added.
Earlier this week, N.R. Ramesh, Bengaluru South District president of the BJP, had accused the IT firms and various builders of encroaching upon the SWD.
In a letter to industrialist Mohandas Pai, Mr. Ramesh alleged that Information Technology industries in the city are the reason for the current situation of flooding. Alleging that major IT companies have constructed their buildings on storm-water drains and their buffer zones, he had said “The width of the primary drains and secondary drains of the rajakaluves have been completely encroached on or diverted during these constructions of IT companies.”
On Monday, BBMP commissioner Tushar Giri Nath said, “We have given detailed instruction to all eight zones to clear the encroachments on lake beds and SWDs and take action.”
Meanwhile, the Bengaluru East tahsildar had also issued notice to 13 residents of the luxury Rainbow Drive gated community in the city, which was flooded after heavy rain recently, for alleged encroachment of a storm-water drain. The authorities alleged that the residents’ properties block major areas of the culvert, making the layout prone to flooding during the rain.
