Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF), which has taken many high and mighty head-on, is set to become a closed chapter.
Government sources said the BMTF had recently written to the Urban Development Department asking for BMTF-specific special public prosecutor to fight its cases in the court. The indications the BMTF got was that there was no need to appoint a special public prosecutor when there will be no BMTF after March 31.
It is an annual ritual for the BMTF to get Karnataka government’s approval on March 31 to continue. Since its inception in 1996, the watchdog agency of all civic agencies of Bangalore has been getting extension year after year. This year, the State government seems to have made up its mind not to give extension.
The reasons are quite obvious. The task force has given lots of anxious moments to ministers, top government officials and other public representatives. When contacted, the BMTF chief, Additional Director General of Police Dr R P Sharma, refused to comment.
Raid on India Builders
The BMTF on Thursday raided the office of India Builders on St Marks Road in connection with the encroachment of a civic amenity site at Yeshwantapur for their project Platinum City.
The raids were carried out based on a complaint by the Bangalore Development Authority, which said the builder has exceeded its limit and occupied the public property. The sleuths of BMTF seized many documents pertaining to the property.