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Drive against parking place violation in private buildings soon: Mayor Kavitha Sanil

MANGALURU: Mayor Kavitha Sanil, who shot to fame by conducting raids on illegal constructions, skill game centres and massage parlours, has warned builders against conversion of parking lots into commercial spaces.

Very soon, teams of Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) will commerce demolition/ vacation drives to clear encroachment of parking places in private buildings in the city. The mayor said the town planning section of the MCC has already issued notices to dozens of buildings and asked them to clear parking encroachment. She said there are nearly 25 commercial complexes in the heart of the city, where parking places have been converted into bars, skill game centres and other business premises.

"We have identified nearly 25 buildings in the city, where parking places are converted into commercial places violating rules. Officials have found few buildings running, where bars, restaurants and other business establishments are functioning in places meant for parking as per records. Very soon, we will commence drives to demolish or vacate such encroachments in the interest of public. There are criticisms from public against accusing the city corporation of having soft corner towards those builders, who violate the parking space rules," said Kavitha.

Those builders are in fact denying the rights of people to park their vehicles. As a result, people are forced to park their vehicles on roads. Clearing parking place encroachments in private buildings will solve the problems of people. While notices have been issued to all buildings that are found violating parking space rules, many have questioned the same in High Court. Meanwhile, many building owners have applied for regularization under Akrama Sakrama schemes too. We will wait for outcome from the High Court and government in such cases. However, action will be taken to vacate encroachments in other buildings, she added.

The mayor, who addressed a press conference on Thursday along with officials, said the city corporation will not act against small violations in independent houses in the city. "I am sure that there will be pressure on me not to commence drive against buildings that converted parking places. I will not budge owing to any type of such pressures," she asserted.