Roadside encroachments at Dolmundai in Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Sept. 19: Roadside encroachments are back on the busy stretch from Bajrakabati up to Badambadi, which is already struggling to accommodate the rising number of vehicles in the city.

The 1.5-km stretch is one of the busiest roads that act as a connecting link from one end of the city to the other. However, squatters have occupied the bulk of the space on the road, creating obstruction in the free flow of traffic.

“A lot of people are parking their vehicles on the road to buy fruits, garments and other items from the street vendors who have set up their business units along the roadside. This is creating problems for commuters on the vital road,” said commuter Kaushik Nath.

Nath said that officials of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) should initiate measures to ensure that the vacant places on road are either converted into proper parking lots or vending zones that were highly required in the city.

The CMC and Cuttack-Bhubaneswar police had launched a massive anti-encroachment drive to decongest major roads in the city last year.

Similarly, a number of encroachments, illegal constructions and other kiosks were also demolished from the Bajrakabati road up to Khan Nagar in June last year.

The traffic management committee launched the eviction drive following a high court order to clear such encroachments, which created problems in the free flow of traffic.

Eviction drives were subsequently launched at Buxi Bazar, Choudhry Bazar, Baropathar, Tinikonia Bagicha and others areas in the city.

“The entire stretch of road from Bajrakabati up to Badambadi via Dolmundai was sanitised following a massive eviction drive. However, lack of supervision on the part of officials has resulted in squatters returning to the main road,” said Swarup Kanungo, another commuter.

Senior traffic officials also admitted that the roadside encroachments were obstructing traffic at major roads in the city. Soon a review would be conducted and steps would be taken to ensure that such encroachments were evicted.

On the other hand, the corporation officials have said adequate measures were being taken to rehabilitate the street vendors.

“We have already established five vending zones that were inaugurated during the local self governance day on August 31. We have also identified new sites to set up more vending zones in the city,” said mayor Saumendra Ghose.