Did you know that a graveyard encroaches half the road on 26th Cross, 17th Main in Sector 3? Well, here are some interesting facts about it. According to one BDA official who served his previous term before being transferred, this was a wasteland belonging to the government when HSR was just a village. However, once the BDA took over the land, it left the graveyard as it is and did the rest of the road, according to him.
Another BDA official said that the area around Ellukunte where this graveyard is located is rife with litigations. “There are so many questionable land deals out there and many are embroiled in litigations,” he said. “This graveyard land could also be involved in such a court case. “The new BDA officials in HSR should do a spot inspection and find out if it’s unauthorised or notified land.” Another BDA official said that it cannot be private land as all wasteland is government land.
To put an end to this speculation, we asked the new BDA official about it. After going through the land records, M Prabhu, the new BDA assistant executive engineer confirmed that according to the new map of BDA, 875 is a site. And what about the land next to 875? “It doesn’t show anything here.”
Clearly, this is some contentious territory that the previous BDA officials chose to ignore and only did half the road, keeping the graveyard intact on the rest of the road. However, this needs to be sorted out as it’s government land. “If the residents write a letter to us why they want the graveyard to go away, we could initiate an enquiry and submit our findings to the higher-ups for further action,” said Prabhu.
The fact that it’s appeared as a media report should be reason enough for the BDA to initiate action. After all, what’s a graveyard doing on a residential road? Residents complain that it’s a health hazard, and others say that it’s a traffic bottleneck around this area. In addition, all kinds of people are parking their autos, tempos and cars alongside the encroached road. Creating an opportunity for outsiders to park their vehicles here is also a security issue. Therefore, we urge the BDA officials to initiate action based on this report and clear the road of the graveyard. It’s better late than never.