Bengaluru Migrant Colony Demolition over ‘Bangladeshi Immigrant' Concerns was Unauthorized

Guwahati, January 21, 2020:

The Bengaluru administrative body, BBMP said that the demolition drive in Kariyammana Agrahara, which had left many families living in the makeshift homes homeless, was unauthorized.

Commissioner of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike or BBMP Anil Kumar confirmed that the demolitions that were carried out at the site had no authorization to forcefully demolish the houses.

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Kumar said that Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE), Mahadevapura Zone, Narayan Swamy, who had ordered the demolitions based on complaints, was relieved and sent to the Public Works Department (PWD). He added that the BBMP would write to PWD to take action against him, including his suspension.

It may be mentioned here that on Saturday and Sunday, the AEE had ordered the demolition of a cluster of makeshift houses. The families settled in Bengaluru’s Kariyammana Agrahara were mainly daily wage earners.

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Nearly 200 tin and tarpaulin sheds were destroyed in Kariyammana Agrahara. The demolition was carried out following reports of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants settling in the area. However, the residents hailed from Assam, West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Renowned social media personality, Dhruv Rathee, shared a picture of the site on Facebook and posted, “Bangalore…Hundreds of homes were destroyed by municipality because they suspected "Illegal Bangladeshi immigrants" lived in them. Later, they found out that all of them were Indians. All had Aadhaar, PAN, Voter ID Card etc. Now who will repay these people? As expected, the biggest victims of fear-mongering on NRC are poor Indians.”

It may be mentioned here that there have been tensions over the issue of illegal immigrants settling across the country.

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