More articles by

Prathima Nandakumar
Prathima Nandakumar

ENCROACHMENT

Encroachers in Bengaluru are at risk of "losing" their homes

Ariel View of Bangalore city (File photo) An areal view of Bengaluru city

Demolition drives might hit a roadblock in Bengaluru and greedy builders and government officers guilty of encroaching lakes and stormwater drains might have to forego their movable and immovable assets and face prosecution if the state government chooses to implement the house panel report tabled in the ongoing legislature session at Belagavi. However, it does not provide a breather to the common man.

The 10-member legislature committee, headed by Speaker K.B. Koliwad, which was formed to study the extent of lake encroachments in 2014, has mooted constitution of a judicial inquiry commission to probe lake encroachment.

According to the 247-page report, only 158 out of the 1,547 lakes in Bengaluru urban and rural districts are free from encroachment. While it comes as no big surprise that the encroachers are builders and developers, it is shocking to learn that government agencies are a major violators as well. The Bangalore Development Authority alone has fully encroached 23 lakes and formed housing layouts and allotted sites.

Even as the nature and extent of encroachment by both private and government entities cannot be overlooked, the tone of the recommendations seems to be favouring a culture of negotiations between corrupt officials and the violators.

While the panel argues that it has abstained from recommending eviction of owners of housing complexes on encroached land, citing “humanitiarian grounds”, it has mooted one-time penalty to “regularise” the property (as the government will handover the title deed). However, if the government decides to take over the encroached land, it is free to impose an annual lease amount on the “illegal” occupant.

The committee's plans to rejuvenate the encroached lakes seems ambitious as the criteria for eviction is not uniform. While the panel feels that status quo should be maintained in case the encroached land has been used for “public purposes”, the rule is not applicable for the private encroachments. Eviction from residential units built on lake beds by private parties will be reality if the encroached lake qualifies for rejuvenation. Else, the lake will be declared as “dead” and the government is entitled to take over the property and recover a one-time penalty or a recurring annual lease amount levied on the “illegal” property.

The report is lacking in clarity and paves way for illegal “negotiations” and further exploitation of the common man. Another contentious issue is the leeway given to encroachers, as the report intends to allow the encroachment of a stormwater drain if the violator has “compensated” by building a substitute drain equal in dimension to the one encroached.

While declaring a lake as “dead” needs technical expertise, the powers to declare the same rests with the house. The report lacks the sensitivity needed to check encroachments that are causing urban catastrophes like flooding and seems to have overlooked the benefits of preserving the network of natural drainage system.

ENCROACHMENT IN BENGALURU

LAKES

Total number of lakes – 1,547

Total area – 57,932.26 acres

Encroached area – 10,785.35 acres (govt – 3257 acres, private -7530 acres)

Area cleared of encroachment – 46,289 acres

Encroachment free lakes – 158

STORMWATER DRAINS

Length of SWD network- 1,090km

Villages along SWD – 348

No. of encroachers – 2,083

Encroached area – 501 acres

TANKS

Total no. of tanks – 3,271

Total area – 8119 acres

Encroached area – 1,256 acres (govt – 276 acres, pvt- 782 acres)

Number of encroachers – 2585 (govt – 574, pvt- 2011)

RECOMMENDATIONS

—Creation of a special court to try land grabbing cases

—Constitute judicial inquiry commission to probe encroachment cases

—Identification of guilty officers and builders and confiscation of their assets

—Rejuvenation of lakes, wherever possible

—Plugging seepage of sewage into stormwater drains

—Setting up of STP plants around lakes

—Prevention of further encroachments by filing criminal cases against erring officials

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Topics : #Karnataka

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