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Bengaluru, Feb 7: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) ordered the destruction of a tilted building in the city after evacuating about 150 people from 35 families in the vicinity, an official said on Thursday.

"The top portion of the building has been destroyed 70 per cent today (Thursday). Later, the destruction contractor will allow machines to be used," Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Yelahanka joint commissioner Ashok said.

Located on Vinayaknagar Street in Hebbal's Kempapura, the five-storey building being used as a hostel for boys got tilted on Wednesday morning, spreading panic in the neighbourhood.

Though the tilted building owned by one Rahul, a jeweller, was a sound structure, Ashok said a neighbour, Babu, hired a JCB excavator to dig deep beside the affected structure to build his own structure.

"Babu not only dug very deep but also damaged the foundation pillar of the tilted building, weakening the structure and leading to its slant," said Ashok.

Babu has been booked and arrested even as the police are on the look-out for the JCB owner and operator.

The titled building erected five floors unauthorisedly and falls into the B Khata category. It was constructed without the civic body's plan, said Ashok. 

A Khata and B Khata denote the two types of khatas that exist under BBMP. Khata is a document which shows a property owner having an account with the municipality to pay taxes. An A Khata denotes that the building owner has paid relevant property taxes and that the building conforms to building bylaws and government rules. A B Khata denotes that the building is in violation of government regulations regarding properties in Bengaluru, even when the civic charges for the property have been cleared by the owner.

"As per procedure, we issue notice, but such constructions are rampant in the city. Under the BBMP jurisdiction, there are 15 lakh B Khata structures," said Ashok.

For all B Khata sites, the civic body does not give any plan and there is no proper control on them, he said.

Ashok said the case to regularise the B Khata buildings to A Khata buildings is currently pending in the Supreme Court.

Luckily, no injury or loss of life has been reported from the tilted building.

The civic body arranged alternative accommodation for the affected families, but most of them chose to stay with their relatives, said Ashok.

Bengaluru, Apr 1: After fake sanitisers and masks, Central Crime Branch (CCB) police have busted another racket and seized fake thermometers worth Rs 8 lakh, it said in a statement on Wednesday.

Based on credible information, police conducted the raid on Prajval Surgical and Scientific store located on the first floor of a commercial building in the first block, Rajajinagar. They arrested store manager Keshavan N, 32, a resident of Kurubarahalli.

The police have seized 70 fake infrared forehead thermometers and 60 batteries used in these thermometers. They were worth around Rs 8 lakh as per the price they charged customers for each thermometer.

Mangaluru, Mar 16: As a precaution against the spread of Covid-19, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) on Monday decided to cut down its premium, non-AC sleeper, Rajahamsa and express bus services from Mangaluru to Bengaluru and Kasaragod following poor patronage.

The cut down in services is as per the direction of KSRTC's Central office that wants bus services to be operated on priority.

KSRTC Mangaluru Divisional Controller S N Arun said that the corporation has decided to cut down 40 trips to Bengaluru. Concerning Kasaragod, it has reduced the number of trips from 40 to 35. "These include a reduction in services to Mysuru and Dharmasthala also," he added.