Cuttack, April 12: A meeting with the East Coast Railway's Khurda divisional manager brought permanent relief to Malgodown traders, who have been battling against their eviction over the past two years.

"The railway manager assured us that there would be no eviction of Malgodown traders and they would be repositioned at another site in the same area. We have faith in the assurance," the Cuttack Chamber of Commerce's general secretary B.K. Mohanty told The Telegraph today.

The business body members were called for a meeting with the railway manager at his office at Khurda Road yesterday evening. The meeting was the fallout of the Union railways minister's assurance to them over a fortnight ago.

The traders, threatened with eviction by the railway authorities, are now relieved that the insecurity over their future is over. They also believe that the railway will relocate them at an alternative site nearby.

Malgodown, the state's largest wholesale mandi (market) for essential commodities, is spread over 25 acres. Eighty per cent of the land belongs to the East Coast Railway. There are 1,500 merchants, including whole-sellers and sub-wholesellers, who carry out trade at the market. The railway had been issuing temporary licences, which were renewable every year, to run business at Malgodown since 1925. However, the railway's ultimatum to the traders in February 2015 to vacate the land followed by an eviction notice had sparked controversy. It said there would be no further renewal of licences from 2015-16.

Khurda divisional railway manager Debraj Panda said: "After being assured that no coercive action in the form of eviction will be taken against any Malgodown traders, the Cuttack Chamber of Commerce members agreed to a proposal for their relocation in future."

"The proposal envisages development of the entire Malgodown area, including the adjacent areas that belong to the railway, and coming up with a modern market zone in the adjoining area covering the unused goods shed and the abandoned dockyard," Panda said.

The British government had set up Malgodown in Cuttack after the Great Famine of 1866 as a precautionary measure to stock foodgrain with an inland dock facility at the Taladanda canal connecting it with the Bay of Bengal in Paradip.

Panda said: "The Malgodown traders will be relocated at the modern market zone, and godown units will be rented out to them." He said the proposal would be sent to the railway board for approval.

The proposal of the traders for outright sale of plots of the occupants or to convert the temporary licences into permanent ones was ruled out as it needed cabinet approval.

"We are happy with the railway's assurance as it dispelled the possibility of eviction which would have seriously hit the chain of trade in essential commodities right to the village retail traders, who are dependent on Malgodown," said the chamber of commerce's vice-president Kamal Agarwal.

"The assurance has brought permanent relief for more than 25,000 people, including traders, workers, labourers and transporters, who depend on Malgodown," said managing committee member of the business body Shyamsundar Bhausinka.

Earlier, some of the traders had filed individual petitions in Orissa High Court seeking intervention against eviction notices issued to them. Of the 50-odd petitions, the high court had so far disposed around 30 of them with identical order."Since the railway authority has a vast amount of land nearby, it should at least consider the case of the petitioner (a trader at Malgodown) to rehabilitate him at some other place," the high court had directed while disposing of petitions.