Bhubaneswar, Feb. 4: A special joint squad of the development authority and the corporation has begun patrolling footpaths and cycle tracks along Bidyut Marg and Janpath to make sure evicted squatters do not resurface.

"It often happens that the encroachers reappear after the eviction. We started patrolling this time since we don't want to repeat the same mistakes," said the Bhubaneswar Development Authority's liaison officer Subhransu Mohanty.

The squad, which began the eviction drive along Bidyut Marg and Janpath on January 5, is still carrying on it. In the past two days, it removed five fruit trolleys, five tiffin kiosks, five flower kiosks, 10 old bikes, two coconut vendors, extended part of six garages, two iron kiosks, seven hoardings and signboards, two wooden tables and one garment seller from Bidyut Marg.

They have removed three helmet shops, two extended bamboo sheds of Opolfed, three flowers shops, one electronic goods shop, eight advertisement boards, one juice shop and 26 street vendors from Janpath. The squad has also continued to slap notices on vendors for encroaching.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation's zonal development commissioner (north) Subhranshu Mishra has reviewed its activities and expressed satisfaction on the clearance of footpaths and cycle tracks.

He also briefed roadside shopkeepers not to allow customers to park their vehicles on those portions.

While the squad continued the eviction drives during the morning, the patrolling is being conducted during evening.

"The eviction and demolition drives till now continued peacefully. The vendors or the encroachers are also abiding by the decision. Most of them are not reappearing, but some are trying. We are barring them from putting up their shops again," said Mohanty.

Damana resident Bidyadhar Mohapatra said: "The patrolling is necessary since it happened in the past that after eviction, the encroachers reappeared. I hope that the city administration is serious this time, and the paths will remain free of encroachments," said Mohapatra, a fast-food shop owner.

However, social workers are asking for rehabilitation of the evicted encroachers and terming the activities of the squad biased.

"It is good that efforts are being taken to provide space to pedestrians and cyclists, but this is coming at the cost of a person's livelihood. The administration should do their duty but also ensure that enough vending zones are provided so that the poor may earn their livelihood," said social worker Prakash Tripathy.

A betel shop owner Raju Das, who had been evicted from Kharavela Nagar on Janpath, said: "My shop was around 100 metres away from the footpath, but I don't know why they asked me to remove it. I had no choice but to abide by the decision. Now, I don't know what I will do," said Das.