Official apathy can at times be killing, literally speaking. While over the last few months the city has seen three under- construction buildings collapse, killing four people, the authorities continue to wear blinkers, washing their hands off the matter, contending they have no say in how private buildings are built.

But then lives appear to be cheap as far as the BBMP is concerned, as not too long ago people died in Ejipura when quarters built for the economically weaker sections too came tumbling down. One of the blocks collapsed in 2003 and two more crashed in 2007. The high court, hearing a petition on the issue, minced no words in taking the BBMP to task recently. How are these buildings constructed when they fall like a pack of cards, it wanted to know and warned it would not allow the people in power to exploit the poor, for whom these quarters were meant. The BBMP commissioner will now have to appear before the court in answer to its summons on July 24.

The court seemed to be voicing the outrage of the people as babudom, immersed in files and rules, does not bother to deal with issues like the supply of filter sand to the city, which can prove very unsafe when used in construction. While the BBMP acknowledges that indiscriminate use of filter sand and poor structural design are usually to blame for buildings collapsing even before they are ready for occupation, it seems to be doing little to put a stop to both evils stalking the city and claiming lives in the process. The district administration too doesnt appear to care enough to rein in the sand mafia.

Ask BBMP engineer-in-chief, B. T. Ramesh and he toes the official line, saying neither the Karnataka Municipal Corporation (KMC) Act nor the BBMP building by-laws empower it to check the quality of private buildings under construction or their structural design. "Our only responsibility is to check for deviations and building plan violations," he contends. While seeming fully abreast of the problem, he has few solutions to offer.

With the formation of greater Bengaluru, covering 110 villages, unauthorised construction or violation of Floor Area Ratio (FAR) has become blatant, he reveals. People in the newly added areas begin construction without requisite approvals and clearances from the civic body, and in some instances, with official connivance, he acknowledges. "Several buildings are also constructed on agricultural land without proper approval and land conversion," the officer deplores.

About the use of cheaper filter sand in construction, he says it is being supplied to the city by the unscrupulous due the rising price of sand in the market. "The quality and stability of buildings using filter sand is bound to be poor and there's always the possibility that they may collapse. People should be careful when buying sand for construction," Mr Ramesh warns. Valid advice, but can the authorities not come up with something better to police the mafia involved and check the rampant violation of land conversion rules?

Officially illegal
So rampant is the practice of people building on land on the city’s outskirts without converting it for non-agricultural use that the BBMP has begun issuing them ‘B’ khatas that don’t exist under the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act (1976), simply to bring them under its property tax net. In the process it ends up giving tacit recognition to these properties, despite the violations involved in building them.

While BBMP engineer-in-chief, B. T. Ramesh, says the government has stopped issuing bonafide khatas to property owners who have not paid conversion and betterment fee, it is an open secret that they are issued ‘B’ khatas by the authority which does not want to lose out on property tax. “As these houses and buildings make use of the roads and drains, they must pay the tax and so the BBMP simply issues them a ‘B’ khata not recognised under the law to collect it,” says a BBMP officer.

The practice is only gaining ground as with the price of land spiralling in the city many people are looking to buy land on the outskirts, even if it has not been converted for non-agricultural use. “Since their building plans cannot be authorised in the absence of such conversion, they evade all building laws and don’t bother about either the structural design or stability of the constructions which are completed in record time. Its no wonder that some of them fall even while under construction,” says the officer.