BBMP begins encroachment demolition drive at Wipro’s Sarjapur campus
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), which has been engaged in an encroachment demolition drive following heavy rains and flooding in the city, on Monday, began to remove the compound wall of IT giant Wipro’s Sarjapur campus, which was named as one of the encroachers in a list put out by the municipal body earlier. This development comes just a week after the company had said that its campus was constructed as per the sanctioned plan.
In August this year, the BBMP had identified at least 15 sites as encroachments on stormwater drains in Bengaluru, with most of them located in areas like Mahadevapura, Bellandur and Hoodi. Now, based on this list, a demolition drive is currently underway with BBMP bulldozers razing many portions of buildings that were identified as encroachments. Wipro office, Bagmane Tech park, Purva paradise, Rainbow Drive Layout, and Ecospace are among the IT parks and developers accused of encroaching stormwater drains.
According to reports, BBMP officials have said that Wipro has built a concrete slab on top of the stormwater drain for 2.4 meters and that on Monday, it removed a portion of the slab. The IT company’s Sarjapur campus was also one of the several places that were severely affected during the floods that wreaked havoc across Bengaluru city in August.
Meanwhile, Wipro on Tuesday has said that the company remains committed to supporting the ecology of the area it operates in. “We are proactively working with BBMP to increase the capacity and access of the storm water drain passing through our Doddakannelli campus, built as per plans sanctioned by concerned authorities. Wipro has also opened a part of the compound wall to enable BBMP to carry out these efforts easily,” the IT company said in a statement.
Several high profile developers, IT majors, and hospitals are named as encroachers allegedly responsible for choking almost 700 stormwater drains (SWD), as per an internal note of the BBMP tasked with clearing up the mess. Dated August 17, the city civic authorities' note names 15 encroachments by various developers and firms like IT firms, hospitals, and educational institutions.
The BBMP list includes entities like Prestige, Bagmane Tech Park, Columbia Asia Hospital, Eco Space, Gopalan, Salarpuria, Wipro and Congress leader Haris Nalapad.