This comes after in late March a similar drive was carried out in KR Market following a warning by Karnataka High Court.
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Starting from Saturday, officials of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike initiated an anti-encroachment drive to make Russel Market in Shivajinagar, one of the city’s oldest markets compliant with fire safety norms. As part of the process, more than 500 shops, stalls were demolished. In the drive that continued on Sunday, several encroachers were fined. The fire department had also said that an audit will be done and emergency pathways will be identified. Encroachers who were identified were fined Rs 500-Rs 1,000 based on the size of their stalls. According to BBMP sources, they have 1,000 establishments inside the market while only 421 licenses have been granted. The anti-encroachment drive was also expanded to areas leading to the entry of the market like Broadway Road and Narona Road. “We want it to be a pleasant experience for both the shoppers and traders in the market. We had been warning unauthorised traders to move away and remove their encroachments. Most of the work has been done yesterday, today we are clearing up the debris. After Russel Market, we will go to Madiwala market in the coming days followed by other big markets,” SG Raveendra, BBMP Special Commissioner (Estates), told TNM. When asked if BBMP will compensate, the displaced traders, “There is no question of rehabilitation or compensation as we had repeatedly warned over the last week that we will come on Saturday to clear encroachments. We had given ample time to move away and in the first place they should not have been there,” he added. Alongside BBMP and fire officials, the Traffic Police Department also towed away illegally parked vehicles within the passageway of the vehicle. Despite minor arguments and commotion, there was no law and order issue till Sunday, Shivajinagar police said. This drive in Russel Market comes after Palike officials carried out a similar crackdown against unauthorised shops and traders at the city’s landmark KR Market in late March following a direction from the Karnataka High Court. The Karnataka High Court earlier in March had criticised the BBMP over laxity in fire safety norms and warned that the BBMP Commissioner and the Fire and Emergency Services (F&ES) department will be named as the first and second accused if a mishap occurs in any of the city’s old markets. The court was hearing a petition filed by Bengaluru Flower Merchants’ Association seeking the removal of encroachments on the pathway. The BBMP was asked by the court to file a compliance report within two weeks’ time. At the same time, BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad had ordered all zonal engineers to review fire safety measures of all commercial buildings in their jurisdiction.
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