Demolitions were meant to clear encroachments: Manivannan

Demolitions were meant to clear encroachments: Manivannan
The Hindu

HUBLI: Commissioner of Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation P. Manivannan clarified on Tuesday that the recently concluded demolition drive is not a road widening exercise.

He told the corporation council meeting that the demolition drive was purely to clear the roads of encroachments.

"If we go by the Comprehensive Development Plan, then we will have to give compensation to the tune of Rs. 2,000 crores," he said.

About roads that have been left out in the demolition drive, he said the corporation will clear the encroachments on some other roads that had not been identified for demolition.

"But it will be only after development work like construction of footpaths and drains get completed," he said.

Mr. Manivannan admitted that there were some lapses during the drive for which he owned the responsibility.

"Wherever there were lapses because of which some legal structures were demolished, we will give the owners of the buildings suitable compensation. We will come before the Council with a proposal in this regard," he said.

Although there is no scope for rehabilitating people who had built houses illegally on the corporation property, the corporation will take steps to rehabilitate poor people on humanitarian grounds, he said.

About the "completion certificates" of buildings, he said the corporation will take up the issue after a month. "Residential buildings will be dealt with in the end. First, we will deal with commercial establishments," he said.

Mr. Manivannan said the corporation will issue notices to owners of multi-storeyed buildings to clear the protruding portions.

He told the House that the corporation will soon issue an advertisement in newspapers giving full details on the construction of stairs to shops. As soon as the House met, Ashok Jadhav (Bharatiya Janata Party) moved a call attention motion on the criteria adopted during the demolition drive.

Members, including former Mayors Anilkumar Patil, Dr. Pandurang Patil, Mr. Vijayanand Hoskoti, Mr. Firdous Konnur, Leader of the House Yamanur Gudihal, and Leader of the Opposition Bharathi Patil presented their views.

Although everybody welcomed the demolition drive taken up by the corporation, they pointed out some lapses and urged for corrective measures.

The councillors wanted to know if there will be another demolition drive shortly based on the Master Plan and wanted the district-in-charge minister and the Deputy Commissioner or the State Government itself to clarify in this regard.

Mayor Hanumanthappa Betageri, through a ruling, ordered the Commissioner to make up for the lapses and to correspond with the State Government about the implementation of the Master Plan.