Bangalore
Mirror: Bangalore: Sunday, 14 February 2016.
Bruhat
Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has mastered Akrama-Sakrama, the art of
making the irregular regular. The blatant law which the state government wants
to pass is still being challenged in the High Court of Karnataka, but looking at
the deviation on a plot in Koramangala IV Block it is clear that it is under
implementation in the city for several years.
Almost eight
months since sanction was given to a three-storey building on a 914-sq ft
triangular plot and 70% of the construction completed, the BBMP has woken up to
the fact that the deviations are staggering: 100% on the front, 34.27% on the
rear, 73.50% on the left, 100% on the right and 100% on total coverage.
The fact is
the BBMP knew it all along, thanks to vigilant neighbours who kept the area
engineer in the loop about the deviations. The engineer hardly bothered to take
any action. Now when the building has risen beyond three floors and bowing to
strong complaints, a demolition notice was issued in December and the owner has
obtained a stay order.
The irony:
one of the affected neighbours is retired bureaucrat Jayakar Jerome who was
known as the Demolition Man during his stint as the commissioner of the
Bangalore Development Authority in the early 2000s.
Majority of the
properties in Koramangala IV Block have been around for years, built during the
good old days when people followed the rule book, ensured that they don't block
the neighbours' light and air, and had good setbacks all around.
"But, in
recent years, a drastic change that we have noticed in the vicinity is that
within a radius of 100 m, four buildings are under construction in blatant
violation of the sanctioned plan and land use. And one such building coming up
on site no 542/C, 8th main, I cross, is quite in the face,'' said a long-time
resident of the lane whose property is in the neighbourhood. As the
construction on the 914-sq ft plot started, the residents observed that it was
going off track.
"We
filed an RTI application seeking details and till date there is no response.
Despite having some influential neighbours such as Jerome and a tech honcho,
things did not move and the BBMP was forced into some action only at a much
later stage," pointed out another neighbour. By which time, as if on cue,
the owner who was getting the construction done obtained a stay on the
demolition order, issued in December 2015, and has now expedited the work.
The
neighbours are not amused. "This situation is because of total inaction of
the BBMP for almost seven months. But we are determined to take this issue to
its logical legal conclusion as this construction may set an ugly precedence
for others,'' a resident added.
Area
assistant executive engineer MJ Yogesh told Bangalore Mirror that he initiated
action as soon as he got the complaint. "I got the complaint when the
building was in the final stages of construction. I have done my duty by
inspecting the building and issuing the demolition orders. The builder
approached the court and obtained a stay. Now we have to fight it out.
Normally, in such cases, the verdict will be in favour of BBMP.''
Building
owner Satish Kumar admitted that there has been "a mistake" from his
end and his building has violations; he blames his engineer for having designed
the building. The triangle-shaped corner plot, which totals around 1,800 sq ft,
has been split between Kumar and his brother. "In my portion of 900 sq ft,
I got the plan sanctioned for ground-plus-two floors. I know there are
violations, my engineer got it done and when the construction was in the
preliminary stage, he quit my project,'' says Kumar. He said he is in talks
with his would-be neighbours to arrive at a compromise. "My neighbours are
complaining that they have lost their privacy and want my building to be demolished.
They are all influential people," Kumar said.
He lamented
to this correspondent, "I bought this plot and constructing the house with
huge bank loans and I know I am in a big soup. I requested my neighbours to
give me suggestions but they are not ready. How can I demolish the building
now?"
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