From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru

Bengaluru, May 4: The strong public outcry against the ongoing drive against houses built in lake bed areas in the city, Transport Minister B Ramalinga Reddy, who is also Bangaluru City in-charge minister, has promised stringent action against the officials who created fake land records and colluded with land sharks to sell the lands to innocent citizens.

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru on Monday, the minister also promised to consider the request for rehabilitation of the families which have lost their homes in the demolition drive.

"We will trace the officials in various departments or civic bodies who were instrumental in reating fake land records 20 or 30 years ago which has now led to demolition of houses in places like Sarakki Lake bed and Banasavadi lake bed," he said.

Will not spare big builders, real estate mafia

"We will not spare the big builders and the real estate mafia, who perpetrated this fraud with the collusion of officials," Reddy said.

Expressing his helplessness at demolition of hundreds of houses in Banasavadi lake bed and Sarakki land bed areas, Reddy said the officials were just executing the High Court order.

"We cannot stop them from complying with court orders."

The minister blamed the previous governments for the present mess.

Replying to a question about the authorities sparing houses in the BDA layout in the same Banasavadi lake bed area, Reddy said any lands allotted through BDA, KHB or KIADB could not be termed as encroached as the state cabinet would have approved transfer of those lands to these state agencies.

Reddy expressed his sympathy for the hundreds of families whose houses have been demolished due to the fraud perpetrated by officials and real estate biggies.

"I will take up the issue with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to provide rehabilitation for these families under various government housing schemes like Ashraya and Rajeev Gandhi housing schemes," he assured.

Giving details of the ongoing demolition drive, the minister said 23,005 acres in Bengaluru urban district has been identified as Lake Bed land, of which 1,480 acres have been encroached. So far 985 acres of encroached lands have been cleared. Action is being taken to reclaim the remaining lands.

Challenge to BJP

Responding to the demand by senior BJP leader and former minister S Suresh Kumar challenging the government to demolish the KPCC office located on Miller Tank Bed and KempeGowda Bus Stand on Dharmambudhi lake bed, Reddy hit back by saying: "We are ready to demolish KPCC office. But will the BJP demand demolition of Jain Hospital and Ambedkar Bhavan too, as these structures are also build on Miller Tank bed."

Meanwhile, the State BJP, which has woken up late on issue of demolition of houses/ buildings by the Bengaluru Urban District citing they were built illegally on lake beds, has now decided to take the cause of families by holding protests in the coming days.

BJP’s charge against government

Speaking at a separate press conference, former Minister and BJP MLA S Suresh Kumar challenged the Government to demolish the State Congress party office built on Millers tank, KempeGowda bus-station on Dharmambudhi tank, and Karnataka State Pollution Control Board’s office on Saneguravanahalli tank in the City.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who also holds the BDA portfolio, has taken away the right to life of the poor families by demolishing their properties constructed about 20-30 years ago, the BJP leader said.

The government had not taken any action on reports submitted by retired IAS officer V Balasubramanian and former MLA A T Ramaswamy on encroachment of government and lake bed lands by land sharks, Suresh Kumar said.

"The government has permitted Mantri Developers to build a housing complex on Sankey tank land," he claimed.

The poor and middle class families had suffered owing to unholy nexus between builders/developers and BDA/BBMP officials. Families who had been residing in houses for more than 30 years had been evicted and their houses were demolished using earthmovers,  Kumar said.

The BJP leader urged the government to convene a session of the legislature immediately to discuss the issue related to demolition driven taken up authorities in the city.