A bulldozer razes an unauthorised construction at Jayadev Vihar in Bhubaneswar on Monday.

Four days after taking up the job, the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) and the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation finally managed to make two major patches of government land at Jayadev Vihar and Patrapada encroachment free.

"We got permission from the general administration department, which also provided us the police force for the drive. We completed the job today," said BDA liaison officer Subhransu Sekhar Mohanty. The authorities were able to free 1.5 acres in three hours.

Mohanty said the purpose of the drive was to remove an encroachment and construct a boundary wall over the plot at the site. "Theland was handed over to the development authority's land protection cell," he said.

Another team demolished an illegal boundary wall over government land at Patrapada, freeing up 4,000 sqft of space.

Sources said a number of government lands in and around the city remained unutilised due to encroachment. "We have started identifying such land. The demolition will continue to free these and use them for public purposes," said a general administration department official.

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