70% of buildings in Bengaluru illegal, says Dy. CM; orders audit of weak and illegal structures in city

Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Sunday directed the officials of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to identify and serve notices on owners of the buildings that have been constructed unscientifically or have become structurally weak.

Mr. Shivakumar, who visited Nagarathpet where five people were killed in a fire on Saturday, expressed concerns over the conditions in which people were living in the locality and directed the officials to conduct an audit of illegal and weak structures in the city.

“Builders have raised eight to 10 floors in places that were meant for the construction of two or three floors. Many such structures are unfit for habitation,” Mr. Shivakumar said. “Demolitions will follow later, but for now a detailed survey will be carried out. This cannot be finished in a day, and it may take years. Even in Delhi and Mumbai, similar problems persist,” he said.

The Deputy Chief Minister admitted that he was “alarmed” after stepping inside the damaged building. “If a fire breaks out in such cramped spaces, people rush to escape, leading to stampedes and inevitable deaths,” he said.

Mr. Shivakumar said that nearly 70% of buildings in Bengaluru are technically illegal.

“In new Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) layouts, builders have exceeded permissible limits. The Supreme Court has ruled that no water or electricity connections should be issued without occupancy certificates, which has led to four lakh connections being cut off,” he said. “The issue of granting exemption for two-storey houses on 30x40 sites will be placed before the Cabinet,” he noted.

Asked about cramped localities like Chickpet and Nagarathpet, Mr. Shivakumar said that if they strictly applied fire safety rules, every building in these localities would have to be demolished. “Just two days earlier, a cylinder explosion in Adugodi had left one dead and several people injured. Now five lives have been lost in this fire. The root cause is the reckless construction of unsafe buildings,” he said, adding that this cannot be allowed to continue.

While ruling out immediate large-scale demolitions, Mr. Shivakumar said that property owners would be asked to undertake repairs of weak buildings without delay. “If they fail, the government will intervene. In future, permission for such constructions will not be given,” he said.

The Deputy Chief Minister announced that the government has sanctioned ₹5 lakh compensation for each families of the deceased in the Nagarathpet fire incident.