Illegal construction continues at Kaikondrahalli lake

by December 24, 2011 Environment

Citizen Matters had earlier covered Kaikondrahalli lake being threatened by road widening plans and illegal building encroachment. The temple is only a few metres from the lake, which violates the rule that a buffer zone of 30 metres be provided around lakes. Also, pillars of the temple have been erected only a feet away from the neighbouring Elements Layout compound.

K N Devaraj, Joint Commissioner (Mahadevpura zone) had said that he stopped the construction work. The temple builders had obtained permission from the Tahsildar earlier and not from BBMP. “They have applied to us for plan sanction now, but we are not going to approve it due to the buffer zone rule,” he had said.

However the illegal temple construction continues,  often at night,  despite petitions to the Jt Commisioner, Mahadevapura and Commisioner BBMP. The foundation is complete and the pillars are up. See the progress over the last week.

Sections:

About Meera K

Meera K is the co-founder of Citizen Matters, the award-winning civic media platform. She also helped initiate Open City, an urban data platform (opencity.in). Meera is an Ashoka Fellow, recognised for her work building open knowledge platforms that allow citizens to collaborate and improve their cities. She is Founder-trustee at Oorvani Foundation.
Read more by Meera K

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Similar Story

Mumbai floods once again. Will BMC’s climate budget help?

by July 25, 2024 Environment
Experts say that BMC's recently launched climate budget needs to be more focused on urban flooding to be able to protect vulnerable citizens.

On July 8th, rains lashed Mumbai, disrupting regular life and causing waterlogging and floods in low-lying areas and on important routes. Central Railway officials mention that almost 900 train services were cancelled leaving several commuters stranded, while many BEST buses were diverted. Since then several incidents of heavy rains and flooding have been reported in the city. Commuters, civic activists and residents have questioned the claims made by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) about being prepared for the monsoons.  “The half-constructed, newly-built DP road number 9 in Chandivali was waterlogged, which caused inconvenience to commuters,” said Mandeep Singh Makkar, founder…

Continue reading

Similar Story

Mumbaikars get a taste of Murbad’s forest food and tribal culture

by July 11, 2024 Environment
It was a treat for city dwellers to learn about wild vegetables and other forest foods harvested by tribal communities of Murbad, near Mumbai.

Throughout the year, vegetable shops and markets are stocked with select vegetables and produce that form our diets. This produce is grown in large scale farms and sold across the country despite geographic and seasonal variations. But 23rd June was an aberration for some of us, who spent time at the Hirvya Devachi Yatra. We got in touch with forest foods that grow in the wild, people who harvest them and make delicacies out of these.  The Hirvya Devachi Yatra was organised this year by the Shramik Mukti Sanghatana, Van Niketan, Ashwamedh Pratisthan and INTACH Thane Chapter. It has been…

Continue reading