Cuttack Municipal Corporation employees remove hoardings. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Aug. 25: The joint squad of police and the municipal corporation has launched a drive to make traffic junctions free from any visual obstruction.

The squad today pulled down illegal hoardings, banners and other advertisements put up around Sati Choura and Chandi Mandir Square traffic junctions. Twenty hoardings, illegally put up on government land near the traffic junctions, were removed on the second day of the eviction drive.

“Our objective is to ensure that hoardings or any advertisements do not create problems for commuters and obstruct vehicular traffic at prominent junctions. We have launched the drive according to Orissa High Court orders,” said secretary of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation Laxmidhar Nath.

Moreover, the squad has also demolished iron structures erected on both sides of Sati Choura and Chandi Mandir Square to install big hoardings by various companies.

Earlier, such structures, installed on major roads as well as traffic junctions, were creating problems, especially for pedestrians, as those used to occupy bulk of the space.

“There were high court orders to remove all hoardings from near Sati Choura crematorium near the traffic signal. We have removed all the hoardings near the crematorium,” said assistant commissioner of police (traffic) P.K. Dalai.

Dalai said civic body officials would install a welcome arch for the Sati Choura crematorium, one of the oldest crematoriums in the city.

In December last year, though the corporation had pulled down hoardings and other advertisements from near the crematorium, the entire place again became dotted with illegal hoardings in subsequent period.

“We are happy that that the entrance to the crematorium has been freed from hoardings, which was creating problems for a lot of people coming to the crematorium as well for other commuters,” said Sasikant Das, a commuter.

A traffic official said the drive to remove hoardings from various traffic junctions, including at Badambadi, OMP Square and Sikharpur, would also be carried out shortly.

“We will declare prominent traffic junctions as no-hoarding zones, which will be crucial in ensuring that no accidents take place near those junctions,” Dalai said.

On Saturday, over 10 illegal hoardings put up near Malachandia Chhak were removed, while the civic body officials said similar enforcement would also be carried out near Madhupatna, Link Road, high court and other prominent areas in the city.