Karnataka Govt may seize properties with huge violations, says KJ George
Belagavi: The state government will consider confiscating properties with huge violations and will declare them BBMP and BDA property, said Bengaluru Development Minister K.J. George.
Replying to Mr V.S. Ugrappa (Congress) in the Legislative Council on Thursday, he said the government will also explore the possibility of amending the Act to make engineers accountable for buildings with huge violations so that criminal proceedings can be initiated against them. Presently, the law does not permit booking of criminal cases against assistant engineers, assistant executive engineers and executive engineers. This loophole in the existing law is being misused by supervisory staff.
This would be made applicable to all engineers including those working on deputation. Such action would deter engineers from giving permission to commit huge violations both in residential and commercial complexes, he added.
Mr George said he had mooted regularisation of all such buildings while he was Urban Development Minister in 1990. But, an individual from Mangaluru filed a Public Interest Litigation which was pending before a bench headed by the chief justice of Karnataka High Court. According to the plan, the government had planned regularisation of commercial buildings with 30 per cent violations and 50 per cent in cases of residential structures. However, there would be no regularisation of buildings with 100 per cent violations. The government would act in this regard once the case was disposed of in the high court.
The minister said Bengaluru has 17,01,178 properties of which 1,20,01135 are residential, 89,968 non-residential, 74,128 residential plus commercial and 4790 industrial buildings. As many as 3,31,157 are vacant sites.
Mr Ugrappa said an individual in HSR Layout had built six plus floors as against the approved three plus one floors. There was no fear of the law and many people had been constructing buildings as they liked. Because of this , HSR layout had buildings with 100 per cent violations. The government should confiscate the violated portion of any building be it residential or commercial in order to send out a strong message, he contended.
13 doctors for 9937 prisoners!
Home Minister Dr G. Parameshwar said 13 doctors were attending to the medical needs of 9,937 inmates in eight central prisons including Parappana Agrahara in Bengaluru. Replying to Mr T.A. Saravana (BJP) in the Legislative Council on Thursday, he admitted that the doctor-prisoner ratio was not being maintained in central prisons. Recently, the Union home ministry has come out with a new manual under which there would be provision to have more doctors to attend to inmates of central prisons. Health centres have been functioning in all central prisons except Tumakuru where treatment for general health problems and psychiatry and ENT services are available. Emergency cases are treated in the jail wards of government hospitals and also in private hospitals, he said.
Rajakaluve encroachments: Survey soon
Admitting to a delay in survey of properties which encroached upon rajakaluves, Bengaluru City development minister K J George said the revenue department has agreed to spare the services of surveyors to complete the work at the earliest. Replying to T. A. Saravana (on behalf of K V Narayanaswamy) in Legislative Council on Thursday, he said 130 of the total 391 encroachments on rajakaluves were removed. A decision to remove those structures was taken when some areas in Bengaluru were flooded following torrential rain. The encroached properties were identified by a committee headed by Mr K B Koliwad, chairman of lake encroachment committee, and orders issued for removal of such structures. The surveyors, mostly from rural areas, who initially worked under the supervision of BBMP, stopped the survey work abruptly when their services were required in villages. This resulted in a delay completion of the survey work. Recently, he had requested secretary, department of revenue, to spare the services of surveyors to complete the work at the earliest. “I am optimistic of completing the work before the next session of legislature. Thereafter, the removal of encroachments of rajakaluves will begin,” he added. Mr George clarified that rajakaluves were property owned by the government, and none should build any structure on it. Besides, permission should not be given by any officer to build concrete structures. A few low level officers had given permission for which a charge sheet was filed against five officers after serving them the show-cause notice. Meanwhile, some owners moved the high court and obtained a stay order, he added.
