Finally we need a crisis of sorts to get the govt machinery started and the CM talking tough about illegal encroachments onto lake areas. Everyone has abused the lakes systems in the worst possible way. So course corrections are necessary and a must!
SOme right vibes coming out from the opposition too, where BJP has asked to go behind the big players too, citing as below:
75 per cent of the city’s lakebeds and storm water drains had been encroached upon by over 600 construction companies, 150-odd IT/BT companies, 29 tech parks, 30 malls & multiplexes.
Lets take the Bellanduru lake, the largest in the city as an example.
Below are pictures of the area around it in phases:
2005:
2010:
and now today:
As it can be seen, the likes of Prestige Tech Park are plomb in the middle of the Raja Kaluve.
Lets see how much muscle the govt has to act on such big players!!
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encroachers & land grabbers same?
These were words from AT Ramaswamy, who like others, made a very good report on the crime being done day in day out, wiping out lakes in the city..again govt. took no action on the report..
Its high time to take charge and bring some order!
Lets see some criminal charges being dished out!!
ties in with other post
I didn't realize this post was ther about lakes and their destruction. This topic though ties in with another blog post that i started yesterday about flood control infrastrcure (lack of it in Bangalore) -
http://praja.in/en/blog/blrpraj/2016/08/09/bengalooru-what-does-it-have-common-mumbai-kolkata-chennai-gurugram
superimposed map..
Here is a superimposed map of the area around Bellanduru lake
As can be seen the Prestige tech park is in the valley area which is actually supposed to be protected.
The above map(not 'legal') can be checked on:
http://www.clearvalue.in/...
Remains to be seen what action will be taken..
Bares All
Sri, great images that expose everything about how land sharks have gobbled up surrounding areas of Bellandur!
latest on the Bellandur flood-plains 'development'
http://praja.in/hi/blog/vmenon/2013/06/03/end-bellandur-rise-concrete#comment-38135
Mantri is land grabbing just
Mantri is land grabbing just one part of the lake Murali sir..the whole lake system (Madivala- Agara - Bellanduru - Varthuru) is being abused as we speak..
The govt machinery need to get moving at a war footing..the jaggernaut should roll, be it through gated commuities or IT parks..the public outrage should start questioning these land grabbing issues..
Is one seeing the CM finally beginning to assert himself?
Following are the excerpts (in italics - emphasis added by me - full text may be accessed here) of an article that appeared in the ToI today. I have interspersed my comments (in regular text) between the para's:
BBMP commissioner N Manjunath Prasad admits the Palike has finally woken up.“We have woken up now. But it is better late than never. Nature has given a wake-up call in the form of flooding, and Bengaluru will die if no action taken against encroachments now,“ he said, participating in a panel discussion organized by TOI's sister publication Vijaya Karnataka on Wednesday .
“I don't deny many residents have got cheated and officials from the civic body are involved in wrongdoings for which criminal proceedings are being initiated. To clear confusion among the citizens pertaining to revenue maps and location of storm water drains, we've mapped all 17 lakh properties with the help of GIS, that will be put out in the public domain soon. The sewage network in the city will be superimposed on the map so the citizen know the drains are located. The list of drain encroachers will also be out in the public domain with three days. The urban property ownership records project which will be implemented within a few months, will bring more clarity on property documents and sketches,“ he added.
Shouldn't all of these have been done before the start of the demolition?
- - - Most of the panelists supported the encroachment clearance drive undertaken by the state government, but cautioned the civic body to ensure that proper information on storm water drains and related data be made available in public domain as early as possible.
The BBMP has not even been able to organise a proper on-line property tax collection portal, even with having been over a decade at it (check here). As such, what reliability can one expect to these more complex exercises?
The commissioner heard the opinions of urban experts and representatives of resident welfare associations during the meet and said the encroachment drive was not only against small houses or shops. “We started the demolition drive at Kodichikkanahalli and Kasavanahalli because they faced the risk of flooding.It is just the fifth day and we still have a lot of encroachments to cover. Nobody , including big builders, will be spared. We have strengthened our legal team to make strong arguments in court to get stays vacated against some build ings,“ he added.
We will have to see that actually happening.
Prasad said he hasn't come under any political pressure from MLAs or ministers. “Earlier, whenever the civic body took up a demolition drive, some pressure was brought to stall the exercise. Everybody here has a godfather under whose influence the encroachments were preserved. Now, with the chief minister himself giving the nod to clear encroachments, we are not facing any problems,“ he added.
Is it an indication that the kind of clout that the George's and Ramalinga Reddy's enjoyed, and which perhaps were responsible for the kind of 'development' ( some examples of which are seen here) we see all around us, is on the wane? One would like to believe so.
He said there was no scope to divert the storm water drain to save some houses as they are executing the project as per the village maps and sketches given by the revenue department. Chain link fencing will be done along the SWD network to curb future encroachments, he added.
Bengaluru which provides all kinds of services to even the most developed of cities around the world still has to go by century old "village maps"? Now that the exercise of proper mapping is to be done, can we expect a certain level of professionalism in their execution?
Asked whether BBMP was mulling giving compensation to residents whose houses are getting demolished, the commissioner made it clear there was no scope for it. “We are not acquiring anybody's property. I agree there is involvement of officials, for which they are being made liable. In case of developers indulging in illegalities, we can check whether they can be made to pay for the occupants,“ he added.
Officials being suspended does not amount to their "being made liable". One expects deterrent punishments so that no one will ever attempt such disastrous mis-adventures ever again.
Concrete SWD no good!
more here
Interesting observation!
Also, the other thing with using concrete to lay the SWD is that it does not allow ground water charging from the rain water. Assuming that we are not seeing sewage only to flow through them!!
Thanks Srinidhi for posting
Its important these Google maps are able to give so much info but BBMP is blind on this.
Even Century on Bellary road just Opposite Sahakar Nagar is building big Complex on the drain going to Amruthalli lake
JC Yelahanka BBMP says , he will look inot that, BBMP has been boright by the big builders So do not expect much action on these.
No lesson learnt?
Today morning Btv reported that the BBMP officials were ready to demolish parts of the Orion Mall. Per Btv, concerned netas who got the “prasada” (gift) from the builder called up the BBMP officials and gave dhamki not to touch the mall. Per Btv, seems some of the flats in the Brigade complex next to the mall have been given as a prasada to the netas.
Will anything change in our system? Or it is BAU (business as usual)
Thanks Mahesh for sharing info
People who have lost due to BBMP should sit on Dharana infront of Orinion Mall till its recoverd
Maha-raja kaluve reduced to one fourth its original width
Following are the excerpts (emphasis added by me) from a recent ToI report titled "COVERED DRAIN IRKS MAYOR" (for the full text, click here)
Mayor Manjunath Reddy also visited a gated community, Sunny Brooks, on Sarjapur Road. He inspected the raja kaluve nearby and said, "The raja kaluve has been completely covered, and there are chances the water will backflow and cause flooding in neighbouring areas.Also, the drain has been raised in the tech park adjacent to the gated community by almost 2.5 feet. Water flow is very slow."
Reddy instructed officials to desilt and clean the drain in the next two days. He added, "Bommanahalli and Mahadevapura are two areas which are highly prone to encroachment. SWDs should not be completely closed. I will look into the matter of closure of SWDs and initiate action."
Now, following are the excerpts from a news report (emphasis added by me) in The Hindu of 19th Jan, 2015 (for the full text of that, click here), contents being self-explanatory:
Golfers at the Karnataka Golf Association (KGA) here have raised concerns over covering of the storm-water drain (SWD) which could result in flooding of the 10th and 11th hole of the 18-hole golf course, recognised among the top courses in the country.
- - - The former president of the club and retired IPS officer B.S.N. Reddy told The Hindu that while everybody seemed to accept that covering of the drain would not cause flooding, it was proved wrong already as the 10th hole was flooded when it rained last time and the same is expected next time it pours. (Storm-Water Drain) Ananthswamy confirmed that the civic agency had permitted the Embassy Group to cover the 350-meters of the drain from the 10th hole to the Wind Tunnel Bridge.
Meanwhile, in the KGA’s December 2014 newsletter, KGA president Hitesh N. Joshi wrote that the association had agreed to covering of the drain only after they were given an assurance that covering of the drain will not affect KGA.
Besides the area on the covered drain will not be used as car park or pedestrian pathway, and the group would put up a net at their cost to prevent ball hits.
In the first place, how an agreement between a private association (even if promoted by KSTDC) and a builder, can be sanctified by BBMP (by putting up a board as they have done - see picture 1) to allow for the covering of a Rajakaluve is not quite understood.
Pic1) BBMP board, with the Embassy development, across the covered stretch of Rajakaluve, in the background.Now, as if all of that is not bad enough, the entire length of the Rajakaluve, upstream of the covered portion, is being systematically narrowed to almost one fourth its original width, by debris dumping (see pictures 2 & 3).
Pic 2) debris dumping reducing Rajakaluve width to one fourth the original. Diamond district and Hotel Royal Orchid in the background.
Pic 3) Systematic dumping along the entire stretch.Come Nov/ Dec, when the city receives the most intense rainfall, not just the golf course, but even Hotel Royal Orchid, Diamond District, and a whole lot of establishments and homes in the vicinity will go under water (rather muck).
The most astonishing part is the impunity with which this is being carried out in a Maha-raja kaluve (draining into Bellandur, the biggest lake in the city), even as demolitions are going on elsewhere in the city for encroachments into yuva-raja kaluve's.
imperatives for professionalism in every aspect of governance
The city does not have new maps. Land records are in a mess and cannot be trusted. Successive governments have encouraged the corrupt municipal officials.
If the government wants to solve the problem, land records can simply be amalgamated with Google maps and all citizens can easily make out if they are buying houses built on lakes. While over 500 MNCs have large software development centres, GE and 200 others have R&D centres, and Intel developed its new chip in Bengaluru, the state government has failed to use locally available software talent to develop new maps and make these available to citizens online. Instead it has decided to use the 1905 British map, with the consequences outlined above.
For the full text of the blog by Mr Vivek Kulkarni, a former IT secretary of the GoK, in the ToI, click here.
I had stated in post of 11th Aug (scroll above to read) as "Bengaluru which provides all kinds of services to even the most developed of cities around the world still has to go by century old "village maps"? Now that the exercise of proper mapping is to be done, can we expect a certain level of professionalism in their execution?" Mr Kulkarni more or less reiterates the point.
Enough people have lost their life-time's savings, and more importantly a roof over their heads. No longer can we afford not having proper professional services from government agencies, in every aspect of governance (check here, for more). Can we all start collectively demanding that?
how to land grab efficiently..
Nicely put Murali sir, typical steps to encroach first and land grab done by major players are as below:
Of course all this is done in connivance with the authorities..be it BBMP or BDA.
All this address human greed in the purest form!
Thanks Murali for posting
These info sharing will make BBMP to run for cover
More technical details to do
More technical details to do land grabbing
Change the RTC (Rights, Tenancy and Crop)
Create a different survey number
http://www.bangaloremirro...
who are the surveyors?
DH is reporting that demolition debris blocking rajakaluves.
“the rajakaluves which were cleared, have been blocked by a huge amount of debris. BBMP is yet to clear them. Lack of progress on the work of constructing walls on both sides of the drain is evident despite Chief Minister Siddaramaiah ordering it while reviewing the progress. Although officials claimed that the debris is being removed, a visit to the spot showed a different picture. From Kodichikkanahalli to Yelahanka, work on constructing the drains is yet to be taken up.”
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/566615/now-demolition-debris-blocking-rajakaluves.html
Who are these surveyors? Do they belong to BBMP or are they private parties? Can they be bought out by rims of notes that they cant resist? Then the big sharks who have given prasada to the netas and babus will buy the surveyors out.
end of the drama?!
All the furore about demolitions is kinda subsiding with even the HC leding in some support for the violators..
more http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/hc-bbmp-cant-demolish-a-building-without-cancelling-approved-plan/article9023577.ece
Maharaja-kaluve story -2
An inspection by the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) using satellite imagery revealed that the primary drain bed, which was originally 160 ft wide on the village map, had shrunk to 50 ft, and no buffer had been maintained. The course of the drain also looked changed in the satellite image vis-a-vis the original village map.
- - - Environmentalists have time and again pointed out that closing drains was a bad idea - it led to trapping of gases inside and made it a toxic mess.
A long-time resident of Indiranagar, retired information and publicity director, and the former president of KGA, BNS Reddy, said: "In the days to come, Indiranagar and Domlur areas will suffer when the drain clogs up. As per law, nobody can cover the drain and I don't know how government gave its approval. First two portions of the drain near Diamond District and Embassy were permitted to be covered. Now, there is work going on to cover the drain on another side. If the BBMP can destroy people's homes in the name of encroachment, then why make an exception here?"
Another social activist who has been following this issue said the BBMP commissioner has special permission to issue orders for covering a drain in an exceptional case — entrance to a property and not for building parking space.
For the full text of the report (in the same context as my post of 20th Aug - scroll above to read - on encroachments into Maharaja-kaluve - emphasis added by me) in the Bangalore Mirror, click here
The pictures in the report bring out the scenario fairly graphically.
The width reduction from the original 160 ft to the present was 50ft had already led to flooding of the adjoining areas enough times. Now, the further narrowing to less than one-quarter of 50 ft even (seen in my post of 20th Aug, and pictures 1 & 2 below), is certain to flood Diamond District ground level (in the minimum), Domlur, Jogupalya, Cambridge layout, Ulsoor, and more, apart from the KGA golf course, come the Oct/Nov rains.
Pic 1) JCB in action as of 25th Aug morning
Pic 2) The 2nd crossing, some 100 ft downstream from the first seen in Pic1From the above pictures, it appears the builder is providing for another access to the property from the Western end, and intending to make the reclaimed width of the Maharaja-kaluve into his visitor parking lot, with a crossing each for coming 'in' and going 'out'. Of course, that's going to go under water too - perhaps, that's all he cares for the visitors.
On the matter of covering of drains, the argument put forth by the builders is that cleaning/ clearing where required can be done by removing the slabs. But, the slabs here are at least some 5 tonnes each, requiring heavy cranes to do the job, and consequently, it will never be done. In effect, the 350 M length of the covered maharaja-kaluve is a disaster waiting to happen, in very many ways.
wet and dry rajakaluves?
I read that there is a new concept coming up by the govt. Wet and dry rajakaluves. Like solid waste. Why rajakaluves go dry? As I understand, the feeder SWDs were blocked by the people who built over it covering and encroaching SWDs. No wonder rajakaluves go dry (?). Now the govt can say that since they are dry, no water is there, construction are permitted. I think the govt may sort to Akrama/Sakrama thru an ordinance and put an end to this mockery.
BBMP is a synonym for
BBMP is a synonym for inefficiency and corruption. They have taken a pledge to destroy every lake and help builders encroach every Raja Kaluve.
Maharaja-kaluve story - 3
Doubting chief minister Siddaramaiah's assurance that none who have encroached on lake buffer zones and SWDs will be spared, former corporator and BJP's spokesperson NR Ramesh has filed a private complaint (PCR) with IV additional chief metropolitan magistrate seeking action against 122 persons, including the chief minister, prominent builders and even officials for facilitating illegal construction.
- - - The government is shielding big politicians such as former Bengaluru development minister KJ George, who was a promoter of the Embassy group, which is already facing charges of encroaching on an SWD for one of his projects in the Challaghatta valley.
- - - Irfan Razack (in pic), CREDAI chairman, said: "As a responsible body, we are willing to work with the government to design a permanent drain network for the city with the help of local and international experts, and contribute through our CSR funds to build a sustainable city."
For the full text of the report (emphasis added by me) in the Bangalore Mirror, click here.
If the CM's statemnents have to carry any conviction, the first thing that he needs to do is to order restoration of the Maharaja-kaluve (in the Chellaghatta valley) to its earlier width, as also order revocation of the sanction for covering 350 M of its length adjoining the Embassy development.
As for CREDAI's offer for building a SWD network across the city, first let them figure out ways to ensure that only storm water flows through the SWD's and not raw sewage, as at present. Thereafter, they need to ensure that the walls and bottom of the SWD's are never concreted (as seems to be BBMP's current practice - check here; they can instead be of stone masonry), since they have to allow for seepage of water into the ground, during the dry seasons (helping re-charge the acquifers), and the reverse flow during the monsoons. The way they are currently going about concreting every square inch of the open ground, in aqnother couple of years, even the few remaining trees of the once "garden city" will also bite the dust.
Finally Bellanduru demolitions??
more here
Belandur Lake : No Fence till now ???
Recently had opportunity to view Belandur Lake from aerial.
As I have closely associated with Jakkur and Rachenahalli Lake ( arround 160 acres each ) in Bangalore north.
It looks like, Water storage capacity of Jakkur Lake or Rachenhalli Lake is much more then then the Belandur Lake, even though Belandur Lake has bigger lake area but completely filled with weeds on HAL side.
So its time, even if we remove the weeds, do Di-silting what ever possible, in this first step Belandur lake revival see some progress.
We are discussing and generating tonnes of reports but not a acre of Lake has been taken up for cleaning of this mess. Still discussing who will fund, what method to use and when, why, how ???
some ground progress need to be done to show that this lake can be revived
question of KIADB's culpability to the fore again
Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra on Thursday reiterated his commitment to demolish Prestige Tech Park, which is allegedly built on a storm water drain (SWD) in Bellandur.
Jayachandra, who, on Wednesday, had referred to the structure as an apartment complex, clarified on Thursday that it is the Prestige Tech Park that has come up on the SWD. He said the land for the tech park was allotted by Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB).
“I have instructed the BBMP Commissioner to examine the records and apprise me about the legalities. The structure clearly stands on a storm water drain, which is part of the Koramangala-Chellaghatta Valley project to take water to irrigation tanks in Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts. The structure will be razed if it is found to have encroached upon a storm water drain,” Jayachandra said on Thursday.
For the full text of the report (emphasis added by me) in the New Indian Express, click here.
In his opening post in this blog, Srinidhi had pointed out this transgression by Prestige, quite graphically. The question arises again over the culpability of the KIADB honcho's in the whole deal, particularly considering the fact that this is very clearly an ecologically sensitive zone, as much as the Bellandur flood-plains over which they facilitated "development" of the Mantri Techpark, which the NGT has now more or less ordered to be restored to its original status - check here.
An innovative property title insurance scheme
Reproduced below is the full text of the article by Dr Ashwin Mahesh, published in the ToI recently (to access it, click here). Quite like the author has stated, perhaps the "demolition tragedy" (specifically for the ones who lost the roofs over their heads), provides an opportunity to usher in a win-win regime for the future for all the stake-holders involved.
There is an opportunity in the ongoing fracas over demolitions to fix a much bigger problem. If we do the right thing now, not only can we get to a much better regime for managing public spaces, we can also enable a lot of other things.
The key to the problem is simple -provide title insurance for all registered properties. The way things are now, physical destruction of a property in encroached areas also results in financial demolition of a family's valued asset. We need to disentangle the two, and it can be done. Here's a simple way to set it up, and finance it adequately.
The current rate of stamp duty on property transactions is 5.1% or thereabouts. A property usually changes hands and it does so four times or more in its lifetime. And since it is not VAT applicable, the effective rate of taxation across the property's lifetime is almost 20%. This means that, for every five properties, the state is collecting enough tax to completely buy one off ! The number of properties that need to be demolished is of a much smaller percentage.By some estimates, about 20,000 properties need to be cleared. But there are over 22 lakh properties in the city, which means that less than 1% of the buildings would face the hammer even if all the encroached spaces were to be recovered.
To be sure, a lot of lives will still be af fected. But we can at least spare people the financial losses they are now incurring -even if they were to be displaced from their homes. And more people will feel inclined to register their properties, knowing they are insured, if they do.
Not only that, if we begin insuring land titles, then even land acquisition for other properties will become easier. Construction of roads, footpaths, bridges, flyovers, pipes and everything else would become much easier, because the land needed for these projects could be bought. And the madness of offering useless TDR to people instead of money can be stopped.
The sarkar, too, will wake up to doing it right only when it has to bear this cost for itself -or include this cost within the framework of taxes or cesses. It has failed to put up data about its lands in the public domain. It has failed to ensure these lands are not encroached upon. These failures are today cost-free to the government, and therefore it doesn't really care about them.
On the other hand, if it is made to pay for its complicity, the government would then be more careful about the constructions it gives its nod to. And it would do a better job of policing the builders as well as its own officials who collude with them.
A financial way to deal with the mess is also needed because the legal basis for demolitions is so weak. The maps of drains and kaluves is incomplete, and in some cases they are based on estimates rather than surveys. This will not hold up; already, BBMP has been partially restrained by court orders. To move forward, we will need to rethink our approach far more practically.
One hopes the government takes note.
Has the Muhurta being fixed for Orion?
Saw the news on tv that BBMP officials want to start the demolition work from Wednesday for Orion Mall. BBMP is asking govt permission for this. Do they need one? What is surprising is that the Brigade group has not said anything about the rajakaluve under the mall. Shows that they were aware of it. The next 3 days will show how the state of affairs in the city. Hope courts won’t give stay on this..
Today's DH Article
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/568608/trouble-orion-mall-survey-sketch.html
SWD demolitions and Cauvery!!
Everyone in Karnataka is crying loud about the injustice done to us in the way of denying drinking water to blr public..even staging a bandh supported by the govt!
But its a known fact that the primary reason Sir MV built KRS was for crop irrigation, even water supply for the then capital Mysore was not high on the cards.
Sir MV planned water source for bangalore too, by creating the Hesarghatta lake and water pumping from Tippagondanahalli. Unfortunately we could never appreciate that, forget protect it. Instead the never ending greed went ahead and killed these sources and encroached and land grabbed the SWD and rivers feeding the reservoirs.
And now we are crying foul because our greed is not satiated!
Shame on US!
MaharajaKaluve disappears
The MaharajaKaluve flowing down from Ulsoor, via Jogupalya, Domlur, past Diamond District (on Old Airport road), and along the Golf club north boundary, is now more or less totally blocked, as seen from the picture above, taken yesterday. The process started with the covering of 350M of its length along the newly developed Embassy Grove - see my post of 20th Aug, '16, scrolling above.
Even as the BBMP and various government agencies kept making all kinds of noises about Rajakaluve encroachments, threatening demolitions and even carrying out a few, this mega encroachment into what I term as the MaharajaKaluve, being amongst the biggest of drains flowing into Bengaluru's biggest lake, remains untouched, in spite of my repeated attempts to bring it to the attention of the powers that be through twitter and various means, apart from the wide mainstrem media coverage the matter has received.
Come monsoons, and everyone living along it beware.
untouchables?
The stormwater drain flowing from Ulsoor via Jogupalya, Domlur and Diamond District (on Old Airport Road) and along the KGA Golf Club’s north boundary has been blocked with debris since last year.
There has been no effort whatsoever to clear this debris despite the BBMP and various government agencies making noise about clearing encroachments on rajakaluves and even carrying out a few mega-demolition drives last year.
- - - When Express brought the issue to BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad and Joint Commissioner (East) Yatish Kumar, both claimed ignorance about the ongoing encroachment. The BBMP Commissioner said, “I have no idea about such an encroachment, but I will immediately enquire about it.”
For the full text (emphasis added by me) of the report in The New Indian Express, click here.
I have put it all on social media (twitter/ Facebook) and tagged CM, City-in-charge minister, BBMP Commissioner, BBMP Mayor, etc enough times already. So, it is indeed surprising when the Commissioner says he's unaware of it all.
Worse, he goes on to say that "residents have no reason to worry about floods this year", going by the following excerpts from another report on the same page (accessible here).
Following major incidents of flooding last year, the civic authorities identified 1,923 encroachments on stormwater drains, of which 1,250 have been cleared so far.
BMMP still has a long way to go when it comes to clearing encroachments on SWDs, but it claims that all precautionary measures have been put in place and adds that the residents have no reason to worry about floods this year.
- - - So far, 69.14m of drains has been cleared of encroachments and 85.96km more is yet to be cleared. This will take two months.” He said details on building demolition will be available after 10 days.
Well, now the story has made it to the main-stream media too. Let's see if they'll act. Or, is it that the perpetrators involved are "untouchable"?
Bellandur Lake
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/610768/now-apartments-pay-price-bellandur.html
This is very interesting! How did the owners buy apartments in the first [lace? The so called educated and techies did not they ask where their sewage was going? I read an article that 199 apts pour their sewage to the lake. This is hypocrisy to the core. First they complained about smell and other things fully knowing that it was their own sewage that is entering the lake. Putting STPs and maintaining them will increase their monthly maintenance fees.
Media is reluctant to ask proper qns to the owners of the apts. That girl from news 9 English who speaks in double tone, should not be sent outside for reporting. She can’t ask proper qns.
If news 9 is willing to give me a chance, I can cover all the environmental and transportation issues for the channel. I can speak fluently in both languages with some expereince in reporting.
plan approval?
Who approved the land use change? Who approved the appartment plan? Who gave the OC?
Its all the govt authorities...not that the public is at fault..they as you say bought the houses well aware of the faults..
Again who is the govt..its the same people who form the 'public' crowd..so no use complaining..we mostly are people with low or no conscience.. but lot of greed..unfortunate!
lake view and maintenance tax
http://www.deccanherald.c...
Is this a good idea rpoposed by KLCDA?
govt's largesse or foolishness?
A govt panel decides to give a reprive to the encroachers..
more here
But the mistakes around this decission is that they are not really encroachers..they are LAND GRABBERS..which makes them criminals..
And letting them go scott free is to just build a society of criminals where everything illegal becomes legal when some silly emotions get attached!
no lessons learnt
brazen violations
final touches
The job is almost complete. Being just above ground level, can very well serve as a car park, to begin with, and eventually, perhaps there are more possibilities.