Bagmane Group admits to encroaching rajakaluve for building its centre in B’luru tech park
BBMP survey confirms Puravankara villas built illegally on stormwater drain; residents shocked
Bengaluru: While Bagmane World Technology Centre of the Bagmane Group has admitted to having encroached upon the stormwater drains (rajakaluve) in the tech park area, it has also said that the main culprit is the adjacent Puravankara Purva Parkridge.
Bagmane World Technology Centre was among the 15 big names accused of having contributed to the flood mess in the state capital last week by encroaching upon drains. An area of approximately 2.4 meters of the drain in the IT Corridor in east Bengaluru has been encroached upon by the Bagmane Centre.
GP Chakravarthi, general manager of the Group, admitted, “We covered the drains with slabs, but only to prevent the backflow of the water from the Mahadevapura Lake. If not, our tech park would have been flooded,” insisting, however, on the role played by Puravankara Purva Parkridge Villas in the flooding of the area.
On Wednesday, a second official survey confirmed an encroachment in the Puravankara Purva Parkridge area. Two of the 140-odd villas of Puravankara Purva Parkridge are constructed near the boundary wall of the tech park and have apparently encroached upon 2.5 meters of the drains.
While a survey by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike last month had already brought to light the encroachment, the residents of the villas refuted the charges. They also approached the court, complaining that the survey had been conducted in their absence.
As a part of a second survey, in the presence of the residents, the Palike officials visited the villas on Wednesday. It was now confirmed that the villas had indeed been constructed illegally on the stormwater drains.
Now, while the executive engineer Malathi R has said that they would further act based on the decision of the court, the residents are shocked by the outcome of the survey. They have, therefore, said they would fight it out in court.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
ED questions 'L2: Empuraan' producer Gopalan in chit fund case
Kochi, Apr 7 (PTI): The Enforcement Directorate on Monday questioned Gokulam Gopalan, one of the producers of the Malayalam movie 'L2: Empuraan', at its Kochi office in connection with a foreign exchange law "violation" by his chit fund company, sources said.
The federal probe agency recorded the Kerala-based businessman's statement under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, they said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is said to have questioned him earlier during searches conducted in the case last week in Kozhikode and Chennai.
The agency has said it seized Rs 1.5 crore in cash after searching the premises of Sree Gokulam Chits and Finance Co Pvt Ltd, the chit fund company owned by Gopalan.
The producer could not be contacted for a response on the allegations made against him and his company by the probe agency.
The ED searches came in the backdrop of the recent controversy surrounding 'L2: Empuraan', the second movie in the 'Lucifer' trilogy.
Touted as one of the costliest Malayalam cinema productions, 'L2: Empuraan' was released on March 27 and soon became a topic of hot debate over its critique of right-wing politics and covert mention of the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The other producers of the film are Antony Perumbavoor and A Subaskaran under the banners of Aashirvad Cinemas and Lyca Productions, respectively.
According to Perumbavoor, a little over two minutes of scenes were deleted from the movie following the controversy.
In a statement last week, ED said it has gathered "specific" intelligence that Sree Gokulam Chits and Finance was collecting subscription to chit funds from people residing outside India without due authorisation.
"The subscription amounts from these people were being collected in cash in violation of the regulations framed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). This led to the violation of Regulation 4(b) of Foreign Exchange Management (Permissible Capital Account Transactions) Regulations, 2000 read with circular No 107 dated June 11, 2015 issued by the RBI," the agency claimed.
The company collected Rs 3,71.80 crore in cash from people residing outside India and Rs 220.74 crore through cheques from the same category of people, it said.
'L2: Empuraan' was directed by actor Prithviraj Sukumaran, who also featured in the film alongside Malayalam superstar Mohanlal.
