BENGALURU: Residents of White House Apartment located on Dinnur Main Road in RT Nagar were a worried lot on Thursday too as BBMP bulldozers along with heavy police protection arrived at 11 am to demolish their compound wall for alleged encroachment of a storm water drain (SWD). Soon, around 400 residents came out and resisted the drive. As the earthmovers started roaring after a long break, the entire locality in and around the apartment turned into a war zone with residents shouting slogans against BBMP. Movement of traffic was also hit during the protest.
As soon as the earthmovers arrived, local corporator Ganesh Mane and MLA Narayana Swamy came to the spot. While the residents claimed about two guntas had been encroached upon, a BBMP official said it was 9.5 guntas. Hence, the residents demanded a resurvey. After much persuasion by the residents and the local MLA, the BBMP chief engineer, after communicating with the BBMP Commissioner, finally agreed for a joint survey. BBMP officials left the spot after making the markings.
The residents too assured to cooperate only after the survey is done jointly. Poonam Chhatpar, a senior citizen residing in the apartment for last 15 years said, “If not for all the women who stood in front of the earthmovers, the BBMP would have brought down the compound wall and the walking pathway. They had opened the gate as well to bring in their machines. It was a terrible sight.
We were petrified.” Sudhir Shetty, a resident said, “We are all genuine buyers. All we are asking them is to go for a re-survey. After the resurvey, if the encroachment is found to be 9 guntas, we will readily allow them to go ahead with the demolition.”
About 2,500 families reside in the apartment. Somarajan, a retired officer and a resident said, “Most of them have purchased the apartments with their hard earned money. Some mistake must have happenned many years ago, but what is the harm in re-confirming it before BBMP takes such a stringent step?” B S Prasad, BBMP Chief Engineer of east zone said, “We will take up the joint survey on Friday and if violations are found, we will take up demolition as planned. We will continue the drive beyond the apartment as well.” The civic body continued its demolition drive later and razed a small portion of a resort behind the apartment. BBMP recovered 40 vacant sites on a drain space in Byatarayanapura. It also recovered 18 vacant sites in Attur ward.