Now, Gopalan Mall to face civic body’s axe

Emboldened by successful demolition of a part of Mantri Square Mall, BBMP vows not to spare any violator

Now, Gopalan Mall to face civic body's axe

Emboldened by successful demolition of a part of Mantri Square Mall, BBMP vows not to spare any violator

Real estate violators beware! An overzealous BBMP is on the warpath. After razing a portion of Mantri Square Mall for violation of construction norms recently, an emboldened civic body has now proposed to partially demolish Gopalan Mall, located on Mysore Road. The mall has allegedly flouted bylaws by leaving no space for any eventuality of road-widening.

Double take: Gopalan mall has been grabbing eyeballs because of its
palatial looks. Pic/ Ramesh HS

Grabbing eyeballs
The mall may have grabbed innumerable eyeballs because of its palatial looks, but also received several notices from the BBMP standing committee for flouting the bylaws. M K Gunashekar, member of the Standing Committee, has filed a report regarding the violations.

According to the report, the mall was supposed to leave space for road widening and build an upgraded
and integrated car parking lot, but it failed to do so. The civic body seems to have decided to take strict action against violators. Recently, it showed no inhibitions in demolishing a 4 ft wall of the Mantri Mall for road widening. Now, the BBMP authorities say if Gopalan Mall authorities are found guilty, strict action will be taken against it.

Law same for all
"The law is the same for all. If Mantri can face demolition for violations, the same treatment will be meted out to Gopalan Mall. We have placed the matter before the BBMP commissioner and are awaiting his go ahead," said Gunashekar.

BBMP commissioner H Siddhaiah, who was busy with the budget review, said that the matter would be looked into at the earliest. "I have the file with me and once the review of the budget is over, I will go through it. If any gross violations are found, I will initiate action against the mall authorities," he said.

Chairmen of the Standing Committee (Town planning), C K Ramamurthy, had also visited the mall with his team two months ago and sent a report to the commissioner on May 6, pointing out the violations. However, he claimed to be surprised at the delay from the commissioner's end.

"We have noticed violations of several norms and are awaiting action from the commissioner since the past two months," said Ramamurthy.

The Other Side
Legal representative of Gopalan Mall, Krishnamurthy, refused to comment on the issue. However, manager of Gopalan Mall, Navin Deepak, said, "The mall has not committed any violations. Instead, we have left a 6 ft space as per BBMP directions. How can they claim that we have violated any laws?"