Kerala CM slams Kogilu Layout demolitions in Bengaluru

Even as Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited (BSWML) attempted to erect a compound wall on Friday at the site where demolitions were carried out in Kogilu Layout in northern part of the city, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan took to X to condemn the demolition.

Mr. Vijayan, in a post on X, said that the bulldozing of Faqir Colony and Waseem Layout in Bengaluru, which uprooted Muslim families who had lived there for years, exposed the brutal normalisation of “bulldozer raj”.

“Sadly, the Sangh Parivar’s anti-minority politics is now being executed under a Congress government in Karnataka. When a regime rules through fear and brute force, constitutional values and human dignity become the first casualties. All secular and democratic forces must rally together to resist and defeat this insidious trend,” he said.

On December 20, government agencies demolished over 150 houses in Fakeer Colony and parts of Waseem Layout in Kogilu Layout, Yelahanka, leaving nearly 500 people homeless. Since then, the affected families have been living near the demolished site without any accommodation. According to BSWML officials, the site where homes were demolished was once a landfill.

Compound works

On Friday, agencies, accompanied by the police, again arrived at the site to erect a compound wall around the demolished area. However, the affected families stood their ground and prevented the work from being carried out.

When contacted for details, no BSWML official responded. However, a well-placed source said that officials had gone to dig trenches to facilitate the construction of a compound wall around the site.

An activist present at the site told The Hindu that the affected families, particularly women, formed a human chain and refused to allow the agencies to begin any work. Left with no option, the agencies were forced to withdraw.

Another source in the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) told The Hindu that three temporary locations had been offered to the families for shelter, but they refused to relocate. However, activists supporting the families disputed this claim, stating that no such assistance was extended by the civic authorities.