Bengaluru
Several posh villas built in Rainbow Drive Layout (RBD), an upscale private gated community off Sarjapura road in Bengaluru east, that was flooded in 2022, may face demolition as the survey conducted by Assistant Director of Land Records (ADLR) found Storm-Water Drain (SWD) encroachment. The survey was submitted to the Karnataka High Court last week.
A copy of the report accessed by The Hindu shows that house numbers 71, 72/1, 72/2, 73, 74/1, 74/2, 75, 76, 76/1, 77, 78, 79, and 80 are sitting on a SWD. The report said the house owners were issued notices before the survey and maps were shown to them. The report said there is a presence of 2.40 metres of SWD in survey numbers, 16/1, 2, 3A, and 3B. These villas come under survey numbers 16A and 16B in Halanayakanahalli village. On the other hand, the survey also found that 2.40 metres of SWD has passed through survey numbers 18, 19, and 20 in Halanayakanahalli village, and survey number 19 in Junnasandra village. These villas now face demolition, sources said.
Following floods in September 2022, when the civic body tried to demolish encroachments of SWD within the layout, some property owners approached the High Court seeking a stay. The petitioners contended that they have not occupied or encroached upon any of the pathways of SWD and the action being taken by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is illegal causing great hardship to them. The BBMP was building SWD that would pass through private properties.
Hearing this Writ Petition, the court had in November 2022 directed BBMP not to take any coercive steps but also directed the State government to carry out an ADLR survey and submit the report with an affidavit before December 14, 2022. However, the government filed a report only earlier this month after the High Court pulled it up.
A resident of the Layout said that truth had triumphed as it was now evident that the developer of the layout created plots encroaching SWD. Also it is unfortunate that residents who built homes on the SWD have to bear the brunt of it.
It can be recalled that the State government had suspended then Bengaluru East Tehsildar Ajith Kumar Rai, for colluding with encroachers and helping them get a stay order from the court against encroachment clearance drive. Mr. Rai was raided by Lokayukta Police after registering a Disproportionate Assets (DA) case in June earlier this year. He was arrested for allegedly owning benami properties to the tune of several hundred acres.
