BANGALORE: "Target jelly fishes but also catch sharks." It was the observation made by the High Court on Friday while giving directions to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to identify the encroachments on the storm water drains (SWDs) in the city within a month.A Division Bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice H G Ramesh has directed the BBMP to submit a report furnishing the list of details concerning the unauthorized constructions and the illegal encroachments on the storm water drains in and around the city within a month.The Bench issued this direction while hearing to a public interest litigation filed by the Five Year Law Course Advocates Association in 2009. The petitioners have contended that there are many encroachments on the storm water drains and that they should all be cleared as soon as possible.The Bench took a serious note of the encroachments in the Rajakaluves and SWDs and asked the BBMP to identify and take action against such encroachments."We don't want jelly fishes, we want sharks. You start taking action and we are with you."It asked the BBMP to identify large encroachers in a month's time and inform about the action initiated.The BBMP counsel informed the court that action has been initiated in about 300 instances of such encroachments.The Bench further suggested the BBMP to come up with a process or mechanism to identity and prevent encroachments.The BBMP Chief Engineer (Storm Water Drains) who was present in the court submitted an affidavit as per the directions of the court in the previous hearing. The affidavit stated that nearly 300 instances of encroachments of storm water drains were removed in the recent past by the BBMP. The process of removing the encroachments is under progress.Live in actionFollowing the order, the BBMP seems to have gone on overdrive to ensure they implement the HC directive. A BBMP official on the condition of anonymity said that the drive to remove encroachments is on and will be completed soon. "The BBMP is not worried about who the perpetrator is", he said and added that their drive will be merciless while removing encroachment.According to BBMP officials, more than 973 encroachments have been identified across the city, out of which 709 have been cleared and the remaining 264 will be cleared soon. But their ability to complete the work on time has come under suspicion.
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