Workers demolish the under-construction building at Ashok Nagar in Bhubaneswar on Monday. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 25: The development authority today started demolishing an illegally constructed five-storey building along Janpath at Ashok Nagar.

The building’s construction was going on without approval from the Bhubaneswar Development Authority, which had issued several notices to its landowner to stop the construction.

An official said the demolition would take at least five days to complete as they were not using the implosion technology, which was less time consuming.

It has recently tied up with an Indore-based private company to carry out demolition of high-rise structures using implosion method, but the company officials are busy at the moment.

Enforcement officer Deba Prasad Dash said the building owner had started the construction without procuring the necessary approval from them.

“Despite cases lodged against them under the Odisha Development Authorities Act and their appeals rejected at various forums for illegal construction, the owner did not stop the work. Even several notices were issued against them to demolish the structure, but they did not pay any attention. We followed every legal step before finally deciding to pull down the building,” said Dash.

A big crowd gathered at the spot when officials of the development authority along with police reached there to pull down the building. The cops had a hard day in controlling the crowd. The building was also blocking the entrance to another house.

An official said the building owners started the construction in 2008. When the matter came to the development authority’s notice, they lodged a case in January 2009. The owners then appealed in the higher forum, but it was rejected. Later, the owners approached the authority when it started an amnesty scheme for minor violations. But, the authority, too, rejected their plea last year.

“After rejecting the amnesty plea we sent them around 20 notices asking the owner to demolish the structure. It was also encroaching a natural drainage channel. They did not pay any heed to it. We had even filed a caveat with Orissa High Court in case the owners approached the court for a stay order,” he said.

Sources said the plot owner was pleading the officers in the morning to stop the drive, as he promised to carry it out himself.

According to an official, over 2,600 building demolition cases are pending with them.. At present, the authorities have planned to pull down 10 such structures in the city.