Bengaluru: After BBMP demolishes, questions remain on home loans

After the recent floods in Bengaluru, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) went on an aggressive anti-encroachment drive over the past week, demolishing scores of houses and compounds built on land intended for stormwater drains, tank beds and other water bodies. 

While the drive is seen as a strong political reaction by the government of CM Siddaramaiah, the aggrieved residents who lost their homes have a new worry - pending home loan repayments. 

For their part, even the banks that have issued the loans are equally apprehensive about the possibility of loan recovery, since usually, the demolished homes themselves were the collateral.

Banks have given lakhs of rupees as loans to construct buildings in these encroached areas. These loans were provided on the basis of no objection certificates and clearances provided by the very same civic agencies who are now on a demolition drive, razing the buildings that they cleared for construction. 

Perhaps, henceforth, the submitting of another vital document may become a necessity - along with the hoards of documents already required for a bank loan. 

A document stating that the proposed construction is not lying on any Raja Kaluve (stormwater drain) and supportive documents - including the layout plan in substantiation of this claim - might become mandatory for availing a bank loan. 

But for the residents, such a future course has become a moot point. For now, all they ask is - who should be held responsible for repayment of home loans when the home is no more? 

• Bengaluru demolition drive
• Home loans