8-ft rd in Thubarahalli dug up by landowners who claim it is their property; BBMP, which okayed the flats, now says it cannot helpA kuchcha road, the only access road for around 1,000 families residing in Thubarahalli extension (off Varthur road), was dug up by private landowners on Tuesday. Even though all approvals were given by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to apartments in Thubarahalli extension as per BBMP by-laws, rights to access the apartment were missing. Private landowners are now reluctant to hand over their land to allow access, and the BBMP is unable to help the residents anymore.The problems began when the civic authority granted approvals for the construction of apartments despite poor road connectivity. Around six apartments and residential houses in the vicinity are being forced to use the eight foot wide road to commute. Private landowners have dug up the stretch and are fencing it.Resident and techie Sujesh N said that the road was earlier 40 foot wide but due to the digging up activity, this is now only eight foot wide. “This is an act of restricting public usage of road and denial of basic municipal rights that the state machinery has to otherwise enforce. We are not able to access our homes by car, as a single vehicle can block out the entire stretch of the path.” He said another problem they were bracing for was the effect the oncoming monsoon is likely to have on the untarred road that was being dug up.“About 100 metres of the road, from the point of its inception, has been fenced with barbed wires by the private property owners. Big vehicles such as school buses and ambulances are not able to use the remaining part of the road. Not just that, even the recently-tarred Vibgyor road that runs parallel is back to its original form because of the poor quality of work,” said Raghu Kumar P, another resident.BBMP officials sanctioned building plans without road connectivity Shweta Vijaykumar, corporator of ward 85 (Doddanekundi), said, “I tried my best to talk to the landowners but they are reluctant to allow access despite knowing that the people living in the vicinity are troubled. The matter is in the court and a stay order has been granted to the land owners. Even BBMP cannot do anything now except convince the owners to stop the work.” She added that the then BBMP officials gave builders permission despite the lack of an approach road.Now, the builders were not ready to pay for a commutable road for the sake of the flat owners. “I shall discuss the issue in next council meeting to get an access road,” she promised.