After the eviction drive on Sunday, encroachers were again back at Kharavela Nagar area on Monday. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, July 25: Demolition drives in the capital city have failed to serve their purpose as in most cases, the encroachers are back to the places from where they have been evicted.

Last Saturday, a joint demolition drive was undertaken in several areas of the city by the recovery and enforcement wings of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, the Bhubaneswar Development Authority, the general administration department and the police. However, the encroachers are back and rebuilding the demolished structures.

“The civic administration should have a clearly defined policy on demolition. They know that most of the roads in the Kharavela Nagar area under ward No. 43 are encroached. But, whenever they took out an eviction drive, the aim was never achieved. The demolition on Saturday cleared a road near our apartment complex. However, still many vital roads in other parts are under encroachment and for this, the lack of follow-up action by the civic authorities is to be partly blamed,” said a resident of Chandrama Apartment Complex.

Another resident said: “Most of the approach roads at ward No. 43 are under encroachment. Even on Saturday, when the corporation people carried out the demolition drive, we were surprised to notice that people had encroached almost 50 per cent of an approach road. However, as promised by the civic body officers, the road work or at least the levelling exercise by using excavators and rollers should have been started to set an example.”

Local councillor Guru Charan Sahoo admitted that there was large-scale encroachment of the prime government land at the ward. “People, who are paying holding tax, have filed complaints on number of occasions that the inside roads in the area remain partially or completely blocked by the squatters. There was a plan to shift the rag pickers to a location on the outskirts. But, it has not yet been finalised,” he said.

The patch inside the Kharavela Nagar area is perhaps the largest encroached locality between Vani Vihar Square and Rajmahal. The solid wastes generated from these recycling units are also choking the nearby natural drainage channel starting near Sriya Square.

“The rag pickers’ service is required. But, the community should be placed in such a way that pollution, traffic problem and congestion do not affect the residents. Therefore, if the people can be relocated to the city outskirts, it could pave way for a massive open space to be used for recreational purpose,” Sahoo said.

The eviction drive not only in Kharavela Nagar, but also near Unit I market approach roads almost a year ago has gone back to the previous state. In fact, there is no way for a fire tender to enter the area through the road.

Encroachment of space inside Unit IV market has also become acute. At many instances, either people are staying inside their commercial shops or have made unofficial extensions as per their own plans. Though the civic body has tried to streamline things by conducting demolition drives, yet the shopkeepers tend to go back to their original positions owing to the absence of follow-up action.

According to a senior corporation officer, once the demolition process is over, the engineering wing of the civic body has to take up the follow-up action, so that ground-levelling is done. “Whether a road is to be laid or drain to be constructed, the engineering wing has to act swiftly and if there is a delay, there would be no meaning of demolition of the encroachment,” he said.

Deputy municipal commissioner Priyadarshi Mohapatra said: “The corporation is thinking about recovering all land under its fold from unauthorised occupation and later an estate cell will be given the responsibilities to manage them. Immediate action will be taken to free encroached roads at Kharavela Nagar with proper follow-up action to construct them.”