Encroachment: Former MLA’s son issued notice
From The Hindu
It was issued as per the direction of Minister Roshan Baig following public complaints
Belagavi City Corporation Commissioner G. Prabhu has issued a notice to Raj Shyam Ghatage, son of former Congress MLA Shyam B. Ghatage, asking him to stop the construction work on a six-storeyed residential apartment coming up on one side of the double road near T.V. Centre.
A similar notice has been issued to Lalchand V. Porwal and others following public complaints during a review meeting conducted by Minister for Urban Development R. Roshan Baig here on August 18.
Mr. Prabhu said at a press conference here on Tuesday that the notice was issued as per the direction of the Minister, on August 19.
Questions were raised on the permission granted by the corporation in 2013-14 for construction of residential buildings on sites which were allegedly on stormwater drains. Mr. Baig, who took the matter seriously in the light of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s statement on removing illegal encroachments on stormwater drains, inspected the construction works taken up by Mr. Ghatage and Mr. Porwal and others and directed the corporation commissioner to stop the works with immediate effect.
Mr. Prabhu said that as the Minister had also sought a detailed report from the commissioner of the Belagavi Urban Development Authority (BUDA), both the parties had been directed not to commence construction works till the inquiry into the matter was completed.
According to reliable sources in the BUDA, a conspiracy was hatched by politically influential persons, who ensured that the authority changed the “purpose” of the land where these buildings have come up.
Sources told The Hindu that first the BUDA created records showing that there were open sites on the land in question and allotted it as “alternative land” to some private persons whose land was acquired by the BUDA in some other part of the city. Mr. Ghatage purchased the site from the private persons.
This version gains credence with Mr.Ghatage claiming before the Deputy Commissioner and the media on August 19 that he had records to prove that he had purchased the site from private persons and taken up construction works as per law. But, the question is why and how the BUDA officials changed the purpose of the land which was an open stormwater drain for long.