Bengaluru civic body to act against 5,000 illegal buildings in silicon city

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP),will initiate action against more than 5,000 illegal buildings in the Silicon city built in violation of bylaws and sanctioned plans.The survey is still on and soon action will be initiated against owners.

The exercise has been taken up by the BBMP to provide information to the Karnataka High Court, which has slammed the civic agency against the backdrop of a series of building collapse cases in the city. The High Court had also sought the information regarding illegal buildings and the action plan of the civic agency to prevent such incidents in future.

According to BBMP sources, among the 8,486 approved building plans, as many as 5,223 buildings have been found to be built in violation of the sanctioned plans so far. This amounts to 84 per cent of violations and BBMP has served notices to all the owners.

The exercise was conducted by the Town Planning Committee and the list will be submitted to the High Court. BBMP Commissioner Gaurav Gupta has stated that the action is being taken as per the direction of the High Court.

The officers have gathered zonal wise information on building additional floors, constructions without sanctioned plans in the city. Notices have also been served for vacating illegal structures, he said.

Series of incidents of building collapse were reported last month in Bengaluru and residents had narrow escape in all the cases. The civic agency had come under scanner for failing to identify vulnerable buildings. In the subsequent investigations, the negligence and collusion of officers had come to light.