Heavy rains lashed Bengaluru last week (PTI)
Bangalore:
High-profile builders, developers and tech parks are among the list of alleged encroachers who blocked nearly 700 storm water drains in Bengaluru, leading to flooding in parts of the city last week.
The list includes Wipro, Prestige, Eco Space, Bagman Tech Park, Columbia Asia Hospital and Divyashree Villa, which got NDTV access to the list of encroachments by high-profile names. It also appears that the work of demolition of the properties of the common man is in full swing, but the big companies have not been touched.
Spoke to NDTV engineers, on condition of anonymity, said they too would not be spared. But the action is yet to start. One of them said, “We are moving forward one after the other. But there is a clear delay which we are seeing on the ground.”
However, a demolition drive has been launched on the premises of the Nalapada Academy of International School in East Bengaluru, that of an opposition Congress leader who has been the biggest critic of the BJP government in Karnataka over the floods. This school belongs to Congress Youth President Mohammad Nalapad.
When asked whether the encroachment by the school went unnoticed, Malathi, the chief engineer overseeing the demolition, blamed the revenue department.
“We didn’t know. It comes under the revenue department. They should have kept a check. Now we are demolishing the encroachment,” she told NDTV.
Meanwhile, vandalism in the residential area has been going on for the past one week, though no official figures have come yet.
In the eastern part of Bengaluru, the boundary wall of a four-storey building collapsed while residents were inside their homes on Tuesday.
The building’s owner Dinesh Reddy claimed that he had taken “all necessary permissions” before proceeding with the construction.
He said, “This storm water drain has existed for a long time, and despite knowing that the authorities gave me permission to build the building. I have not violated any rules. Without any notice, they came and broke the wall of the compound. demolished,” he said.
NDTV questioned the executive engineer overseeing the demolition, who denied that any permission had been given for the construction.
“There is no approved plan for this building and they have violated laws and constructed over storm water drainage,” said executive engineer Muni Reddy.
Many residents said they were not given any prior notice of the demolition and only became aware of it when they heard bulldozers in action.
Alok, a resident of the four-storey building, said, “They have not informed us. We were not informed. When the demolition began, we were inside our houses.”
Praveen, another resident, said, “I was sleeping. I had finished my night shift, I was sleeping soundly. I woke up suddenly, with a loud sound of demolition.”