The illegal building collapse in Hennur that claimed nine lives has raised questions over the criminal nexus between corrupt civic officials and greedy building owners, who flout every norm of the building bylaws.
As per the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike's own records, the IT capital has nothing less than 4.46 lakh illegal buildings, which are concentrated in the greater Bengaluru (Mahadevapura, Yelahanka, Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Dasarahalli and Bommanahalli), which were added to the city corporations limits.
In 2006, the HD Kumaraswamy-led JDS–BJP coalition government pushed for the Greater Bangalore—an amalgamation of Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (100 wards) with eight urban local bodies and 101 surrounding villages to form BBMP (198 wards). However, post delimitation, the newly added areas became victims of rampant corruption and poor infrastructure.
The definition of "illegal" is vast as it includes buildings that come up on unauthorised land (lacking property documents), encroached stormwater drains, public roads, or civic amenity sites.
"There are 16 lakh residential buildings (entities) and 6.5 lakh commercial buildings, including the tech parks in Bengaluru. At least 65 per cent of these buildings have violated at least one of the norms. Either they have encroached the stormwater drain or flouted the setback rule or constructed more floors than what is permitted," said BJP leader NR Ramesh.
While most violations are in private layouts, revenue land (still under the gram panchayat), an amendment to the building laws that now allow construction on small sites (20ft by 30ft) without building plan approval has led to gross violations and rampant corruption.
For instance, a site measuring 20ft by 30ft is allowed to build only the ground plus the first floor. But the greedy owners have been building multiple floors, putting the lives of people at risk. Also, the setback exemption for smaller sites has put not just the illegal building at risk of collapse but also the adjacent houses.
As Lokayukta Justice BS Patil noted, civic officials have been turning a blind eye to illegal construction and encroachments.
The unauthorised buildings are encouraged by the local politicians and civic officials who are bribed by the building owners. However, the state government has failed to punish the erring officials due to a lack of political will.
Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar's dream, "Brand Bengaluru", has turned into a nightmare as roads are filled with potholes and craters, the underground drainage network is clogged, and rains cause flooding of homes, offices and roads. The traffic jams are a fallout of the poor condition of roads and the unscientific roads, road humps and junctions, and the road digging spree by multiple agencies. Most infrastructure project is only a money spinner for politicians, rue citizens as most development work is unscientific and seems to have no timelines or deadlines.
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The constant flooding of low-lying areas and the building collapse are grim reminders of the massive encroachment of 'Rajakaluves' (stormwater drains).
Out of 847 km of Rajakaluves, only 402 km is left as the remaining stretch has been encroached. The city, which had 854 lakes 50 years back, now has only 127 lakes, while the others have been encroached on by builders and the government.
The IT capital of India has a civic body that has no elected representatives and has been run by only bureaucrats since September 2020. Subsequent governments have only made excuses (delimitation and reservation matrix for OBC) for stalling the polls. The ward committees meant for better citizen participation have been dismantled even though the latest delimitation has increased the wards from 198 to 225.