A typical conflict of interest haunts the drive against encroachments and need for road-widening measures initiated by the Belagavi City Corporation (BCC). Businessmen with commercial establishments along the road are reluctant to part with even an inch of land for the purpose.
Recently, the shopkeepers along the Kapileshwar Road opposed construction of railway over-bridge, despite the fact that there has been a long-pending demand for a bridge on this road — one of the busiest commercial roads in the city — for more than a decade to allow smoother movement of traffic. On Thursday, shopkeepers in Ramdev Galli, a busy one-way commercial road that is regularly troubled with heavy traffic congestion, met Deputy Commissioner N. Jayaram along with their advocate Ashok Potdar.
They pleaded that the BCC could not dispossess or displace them as they had not encroached on the road.
They argued that a stay order from the High Court, Dharwad, given in December last year, was already in place on dispossession, until the next date of hearing.
The shopkeepers had filed a writ petition with an appeal that while they welcomed the development works, the projects should be implemented as per the procedure laid down by the law.
Mr. Potdar said the properties had been under the threat of dispossession after the BCC started gearing up to implement the master plan. But properties in Ramdev Galli were old and constructed during the 1940’s, when there was no City Development Plan in force.
Such being the case, terming all buildings as encroachments was neither fair nor conforming to the law.
Mr. Jayaram assured the delegation of shopkeepers that no action would be taken against shops that have obtained stay order.
But not many could answer his question on how the roads could be widened unless encroachments, if any, were cleared, or the shopkeepers show some generosity to part with a few square feet of land in the interest of the people.
Ramdev Galli is one of the busiest in the city, regularly troubled with traffic congestion
A High Court stay order on dispossession of land on the road already in place
