Bengaluru: The govt is working to rehabilitate people whose houses were demolished for encroaching on govt land near Kogilu Layout, a move that has triggered strong opposition from BJP. The principal opposition party has indicated it may approach a court after the allotment. In the first phase, houses will be allotted to 26 families from among 167 that were evicted. Housing minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan said the document verification process for the first batch has been completed.
“I received a call in this regard from revenue minister Krishna Byre Gowda, who represents the assembly constituency,” Zameer said. “Authorities may allot houses to those 26 families in a day or two.” He said authorities are following strict eligibility norms. “We will not provide houses to people from outside the state under any circumstances,” Zameer said. “To be eligible for housing, they must have been residing in Bengaluru city for at least five years. This is the reason for the delay.” He said of 260 houses, 161 were demolished. “We have received more applications, and it is not possible to allot houses to everyone who applied. It has been decided that those whose houses were demolished will be provided housing facilities, as per the instructions of the chief minister,” he said. Officials say Byre Gowda finalised a beneficiary list and compiled details of beneficiaries’ mother tongue and background to counter BJP allegations that Bangladeshi nationals were being provided houses. As per the list, beneficiaries include 108 Kannada speakers, 103 Urdu speakers, 13 Tamil speakers, 11 Hindi speakers and three Marathi speakers, besides a few Telugu-speaking families. BJP has opposed the move, arguing that rehabilitating those termed illegal dwellers would set a wrong precedent. State BJP chief BY Vijayendra has accused the govt of appeasement politics, calling the move an “unpardonable crime” and announcing statewide protests. He claimed that after the demolitions, “the moment AICC general secretary KC Venugopal issued threats, Siddaramaiah, fearing the loss of his chief ministerial chair, decided to provide houses to illegal migrants”.
