It may come as a surprise to many that not just residential buildings, commercial complexes, tech parks and shopping malls but also public roads have been built on storm water drains in Bengaluru (Bangalore). The city's civic body has a list of 244 such roads and is firm on clearing them.
Besides, the civic body, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike's (BBMP) has also updated its list of structures that are standing on storm water drains, indicating that an intensified crackdown is imminent, notwithstanding the hue and cry over its demolition drive.
The updated list also shows 935 agricultural plots and unoccupied sites that are actually storm water drains and deserve the axe.
The updated list of encroached drains stands at 1,570 as against 1,101 earlier and many of them are in Yelahanka and Mahadevapura, according to a report in the Economic Times.
"Everything will be cleared. It could be that one survey number has a road and a plot together. The drain can be reclaimed only when all the encroachments are cleared," N Manjunath Prasad, BBMP commissioner told the daily.
The list could see more updates in the coming days, he hinted.
"We are updating encroachment figures as and when we get them from the revenue department," Prasad said.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka High Court asked the BBMP to take a decision on alleged encroachment of storm water drains and other public places by shopping malls and tech parks within three months.
A two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice Ravi Malimath, while hearing a public interest litigation, directed the petitioner to give details within 15 days of such encroachments to the BBMP, which in turn should decide on the matter within 15 days.
In its petition, Samarpana — a cultural organisation — alleged that Orion Mall, ETA Mall and JW Marriott Hotel have all come up either on storm water drains or public land, according to a report in The New Indian Express.
In a notice issued in newspapers on Wednesday, Orion Mall refuted allegations of encroachment of storm water drains and said that media outlets were carrying on a "smear campaign" against the establishment, ignoring facts.
