The BBMP on Thursday informed the Karnataka High Court that between August 30 and September 13, 2022, a total of 69 encroachments on Storm Water Drains (SWD) were removed in Bengaluru city.
The civic agency claimed that since 2016-17, it cleared 1,999 encroachments on SWDs out of the 2,626 identified.
Also Read: Explained | BBMP identifies big names behind encroachments of Bengaluru storm water drains
The BBMP filed the status report before a division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice S Vishwajith Shetty. The bench was hearing a PIL filed in 2015 by Vijayan Menon and others on potholes in the city.
BBMP counsel V Sreenidhi told the court that the identification of encroachments on SWDs is a continuous process, which is being done on a daily basis. The report stated that the encroachments (2,626) were identified in 2016-17 and that in the same year, the BBMP had removed/resolved 428 such violations. Similarly, 1,502 encroachments were cleared in 2018-19 and 69 in 2022.
The counsel informed that as on Sept 13, 2022, a total of 627 encroachments are still to be removed of which the major ones are in Dasarahalli (124), Bengaluru East (110), Mahadevapura (88), Yelahanka (85), Bommanahalli-New (66) and Bengaluru West (58).
The bench asked whether the proceedings on encroachments have been stayed and whether any parallel enquiries were being done. The BBMP counsel said the agency has been moving the court in case the proceedings were stayed.
The bench also sought a reply from the BBMP on the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report on the status of SWDs in the city. The counsel sought time.
The bench adjourned the hearing to Friday.
Potholes
The BBMP said it has filled 372 out of 1,673 potholes identified in package A between July 26 and Sept 12, 2022. The status report said it is yet to start work in package B and C. As on Sept 14, BBMP has identified 2,231 major potholes in all eight zones and filled up 2,010.