Over 500 ‘illegal’ structures on land notified for Shivaram Karanth Layout

Bangalore Development Authority brought down seven of them in demolition drive on Monday

The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has identified over 500 structures, which have come up “illegally” on the land notified for the Dr. K Shivaram Karanth Layout after 2018.

Several structures have already been removed by the BDA and on Monday, during one such drive at Somashettihalli, officials faced resistance from residents as seven structures were brought down, including a ground-plus-two-floor building and three sheds.

Pradeep Kumar, a property owner, said, “We had built a structure on our own property. Several structures were demolished on Monday and owners lost structures worth over ₹2 crore. For the formation of the layout, 3 acres of our family land was notified. At least these structures could have been spared. Fourteen years ago, they had issued a notification for the layout. All these years, the land owners suffered a lot. Now they are coming out with compensation which is not agreeable to land owners and demolishing properties that have been built spending our hard-earned money.”