Around 200 houses inhabited by "illegal Bangladeshis" demolished in Bengaluru

Around 200 'kutcha houses' were demolished here in Kariyammana Agrahara area of Bengaluru on January 18, claiming that the settlement belongs to illegal Bangladeshis.

Electricity and water supply have been allegedly cut off in the locality.

Locals, however, said that they are not Bangladeshis and they were not given the notice of demolition by the government. However, the district administration said that they have no idea about the demolition and an investigation is underway to find out the whole matter.

"BBMP officials have not demolished. Who has taken up the task we do not know. The enquiry is being held at the commissioner level. I will talk to the commissioner and then tell what exactly went wrong. How the procedures are being followed," a district official told .

"I am a resident of Tripura. We were not given notice before the demolition. We are not Bangladeshis. We are poor people, we cannot afford to rent 'pucca houses' so we stay here. I have all the legal documents," Md Jahangir Hussain, a resident in the area, told .

"We do not know why they have demolished our houses. We told them we have documents. We have voter identity cards and NRC. They kept calling us Bangladeshi. We have suffered a major loss in terms of infrastructure and basic facilities. We are in fear and facing trouble. They have destroyed my shop," another local said.

( With inputs from ANI )