An unauthorised rakhi shop near Delta Square in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, July 30: The civic authorities and police have tied themselves into knots over jurisdiction this rakhi season.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) is incurring losses to the tune of more than Rs 5 lakh as most traders who have set up rakhi kiosks have not obtained a licence from the corporation, though they have taken permission from the cops.

Though more than 500 temporary rakhi kiosks have set up shop this rakhi season, only 30 of them have obtained a licence from the civic body.

By rule, any trader setting up a temporary kiosk to sell rakhis needs to pay a sum of Rs 500 to BMC to get a temporary licence.

Traders have to pay another Rs 100 every day to the civic body towards rent.

But most of the traders have been doing business by only taking permission from Cuttack-Bhubaneswar police. Rules also make it mandatory for them to obtain power supply from the Central Electricity Supply Utility (Cesu) authorities by depositing the required money from the BMC.

The traders are supposed to deposit the requisite amount with the Cesu for electrification and also pay Rs 200 to the Indian Red Cross Society at the time of getting the permission from the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar police.

The Cesu authorities have been conducting frequent raids on these temporary shops.

The Cesu authorities today conducted raids on the temporary shops near Delta Square but the civic authorities are yet to take action against the violators.

Official sources in the BMC said lack of adequate manpower was responsible for the losses.

“Without manpower we are unable to crack down on the violators. Today we started a raid and imposed fine on nearly 20 temporary shops,” said an official of the licence section.

The shop owners said they were unaware that they had to take a licence from the corporation.

“We have obtained permission from the police and Cesu for doing business. I have never obtained a licence from the BMC even though I have been setting up a temporary shop during Raksha Bandhan for the past three years,” said Rajkishore Moharana, a trader at Jaleswar Colony.

The police, on the other hand, said their role was limited to securing traffic in the areas where the temporary kiosks were being set up.

“While granting permission to the shops we make sure they do not create traffic congestion,” said a senior official in the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar police.

Secretary of the BMC Debasish Mohanty was not available for comment.