A worker demolishes an illegal portion of the building on Saturday. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 21: The development authority today started demolishing a portion of a multi-storey commercial building on Janpath at Kharavela Nagar, because it was constructed without its approval.

The building near Master Canteen Square housed a popular garment shop. An official of the Bhubaneswar Development Authority said the owner had obtained permission for ground and first floor on 4,800sqft. But, he had illegally constructed three more floors on it. Besides, he said the owner had also extended some portions on the ground floor without approval.

Officials of the development authority and police today gave two hours to the garment shop owner to clear its materials from the illegal portion of the building. Then, the squad went to the top floor and started manually demolishing the construction.

Enforcement officer Deba Prasad Dash said a demolition order was issued in 2008 following which the owner approached the high court. “The court instructed him to approach appellate authority of the housing and urban development department. However, the departmental secretary rejected the appeal after a hearing on November 30. Consequently, we conducted the drive today,” said Dash.

Dash said though the landowner had obtained approval for commercial use on the ground floor and residential purpose on the first floor, the entire building was being used for commercial purpose with the garment shop occupying the first, second and third floors. Other commercial structures were also located on the ground floor.

The official said the demolition would take five days. Though the authority has entered into a deal with a private company to use implosion technology for demolishing high-rise buildings, it could not be used this time.

Owner of the garment shop Manikchand Maheswari said they were unaware of the illegal construction. “After the building was renovated in 2008, we spread our establishments to other floors and have been paying Rs 80,000 per floor as rent. The owner had never told us about the violation of building plan.”

Landlord Subhranshu Samantray, a Cuttack resident, could not be contacted. Later, members of the Bhubaneswar Textile and Garment Merchants Association alleged that the authority undertook the drive without prior notice to the trader and caused heavy loss to him.

“The authority should have informed the businessman earlier,” said association president S.K. Agrawal.