Cuttack, Oct. 29: The development authority has resumed demolition of unauthorised religious structures in the city.

To make government land free from encroachment, the Cuttack Development Authority today demolished Maa Santoshi temple at Sector 7.

The temple came up illegally on a 2,500-sqft area that had earlier been earmarked for commercial activities. It was initially constructed some 10 years ago, and subsequently, the authorities encroached upon a large portion of the land in various phases.

“Today, we have demolished the temple that had come up on government land. So far, four temples have been razed to the ground in the past two days,” said development authority secretary Saroj Sethi. Panchamukhi, Tarini and Sai temples were pulled down yesterday.

All three temples encroached upon over 10,000sqft of land that had been identified for primary schools.

However, in order to avoid any untoward incident, around three platoons of policemen were deployed to maintain law during the demolition of the temple.

Earlier, the authority had identified nearly 36 religious structures, including 27 at Markatnagar and eight at Mahanadi Vihar, which had encroached on government land. So far, the authority has demolished nearly 14 temples, including nine at Markatnagar and three at Mahanadi Vihar, from August. An official said four temples— three at Sector 10 and one at Sector 7— had been demolished in the fourth phase, which was launched yesterday.