An illegal structure being demolished at Jayadev Vihar in Bhubaneswar on Thursday. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 25: An eviction drive was today carried out between Jayadev Vihar and Vani Vihar on the NH-5 to recover government land for laying sewer lines and expansion of the national highway.

The team consisting of officials of Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), general administration department, sewerage board and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) demolished over 60 makeshift shops and a religious structures. The Odisha Computer Application Centre boundary wall that had come up on the encroached land was also razed.

However, the drive was halted near the gate of Utkal University as the team found several slum dwellers residing in houses provided to them under Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) by the government.

“We had got requisition from NHAI authorities for conducting the eviction drive along the 1.5km stretch and it had been accordingly planned. The NHAI will expand the road, while the sewerage board will lay drains along the roadside,” said BDA enforcement officer Deba Prasad Dash.

Officials said there was no resistance but when the squad reached Vani Vihar Square, the residents showed documents of the houses provided by the government under RAY. Thereafter, the demolished drive could not because these people had not been allotted houses anywhere else.

The sewerage board will finish its work within six months and the highway will also be expanded on this stretch. Yesterday, an eviction drive was aborted at Old Station Bazaar as people objected to it demanding compensation and rehabilitation. Hundreds of people gheraoed the team and confronted the officials forcing them to return without carrying out the drive. The drive was meant for recovering government land for the expansion of the Bhubaneswar railway station.

The officials said they would conduct an eviction drive tomorrow on both sides of NH-203 between Rasulgarh Square and Ekamra Talkies. A railway overbridge is being constructed at Bomikhal and encroachment on both sides is creating traffic congestion.