BBMP officials have not demolished houses in Bengaluru's Kariyammana Agrahara area: Mayor

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Mayor, M Goutham Kumar on Tuesday claimed that BBMP officials have not demolished the houses in Kariyammana Agrahara area in Bengaluru but an assistant executive engineer of BBMP had given the order.

Around 200 'kutcha houses' were demolished here in the Kariyammana Agrahara area on January 18, claiming that the settlement belongs to illegal Bangladeshis.

"BBMP officials haven't demolished the houses but an assistant executive engineer of BBMP had given the order. We don't know who had taken up the task. An inquiry is being held at the commissioner level," said Kumar.

Electricity and water supply have been allegedly cut off in the locality.

Locals, however, said that they are not Bangladeshis and they were not given the notice of demolition by the state government. However, the district administration said that they have no idea about the demolition and an investigation is underway to find out the whole matter.

"I am a resident of Tripura. We were not given notice before the demolition. We are not Bangladeshis. We are poor people, we cannot afford to rent 'pucca houses' so we stay here. I have all the legal documents," Md Jahangir Hussain, a resident in the area, told ANI.

"We do not know why they have demolished our houses. We told them we have documents. We have voter identity cards and NRC. They kept calling us Bangladeshi. We have suffered a major loss in terms of infrastructure and basic facilities. We are in fear and facing trouble. They have destroyed my shop," another local said.