Bhubaneswar: The housing and urban development department will construct the city's second bus depot at Patia after the development authority cleared hurdles that had delayed the project.

The general administration department had allotted five acres for the proposed depot. However, the project couldn't be executed because of encroachment. On Wednesday, the development authority and cops demolished all illegal structures.

"The general manager of Bhubaneswar Puri Transport Services Limited made the request and our enforcement team demolished 21 temporary homes. The land is almost cleared except one house since the owner showed a stay order from the court," said the development authority's liaison officer Subhransu Sekhar Mohanty.

He said the matter regarding the lone house would be resolved. "Most of the land is now cleared," said Mohanty.

The housing and urban development department had decided to develop five bus depots across the city in 2016. The number was later revised to 14 last year with the government planning to increase the fleet from 100 to 300 by November this year and to 600 by 2020.

"We have one bus depot at Pokhariput that will not be enough. There are minor problems with the other proposed sites that would be cleared with time," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.