Two roadside temples in Cuttack which have been identified for demolition. Telegraph pictures

Cuttack, April 30: A demolition drive against unauthorised roadside religious structures that are obstructing traffic flow here will begin from tomorrow.

“We will start our drive by first demolishing structures that are close to various city streets and are obstructing traffic flow,” deputy commissioner of police, Cuttack, Pravin Kumar told The Telegraph today.

Official sources said these unauthorised religious structures had mostly come up on roads alongside the riverbanks of Mahanadi and Kathajodi. These lands were reserved for various public purposes.

The exercise is being done according to a high court order. On January 6, 2011, Orissa High Court had ordered demolition of “religious institutions” that were constructed after 1987 without permission from competent authorities.

The demolition drive was planned accordingly. “Around 200 unauthorised religious structures have already been identified. The list of structures to be demolished will be finalised today,” Kumar said.

Following the court order, the Odisha government had set up a committee with the revenue divisional commissioner (central division) as its chairman and the commissioner of police of Cuttack, the municipal commissioner of Cuttack and the vice-chairman of Cuttack Development Authority as its members.

The committee subsequently assigned the deputy commissioner of police, Cuttack, the job of supervising the demolition drive.

Sources said that the district administration had identified 164 unauthorised religious structures within the limits of the corporation.

The Cuttack Development Authority had identified another 35 such structures in its Bidanasi housing project at Markat Nagar and Sikharpur housing project at Mahanadi Vihar. The demolition committee has divided the entire city into four zones in the lines of the existing four police zones in Cuttack city and formed an anti-encroachment squad for each zone.