A bulldozer demolishes an illegally constructed shop from the road to NIT in Rourkela. Picture by Uttam Kumar Pal

Rourkela, April 29: The district administration has demolished around 400 shops for expansion of the road from Biju Patnaik Square to National Institute of Technology here.

The district administration has been conducting the eviction drive to demolish all these illegally constructed shops from here for the last four days in association with the Rourkela Steel Plant.

“The shops were creating traffic problem and making the surroundings untidy,” said a senior official of the district administration.

As the land belonged to the Rourkela Steel Plant, they had the onus to clear the encroachments and expand the road. The steel plant authorities had instructed the shopkeepers to demolish their shops, but none had complied with it. Besides some traders obtained stay orders on eviction from court.

“We have been sitting here for several years. The authorities suddenly instructed us to go away from here. Had they assured us to provide rehabilitation, we would have obliged to them,” said Kishore Das, a trader.

The steel plant authorities have, however, assured them of rehabilitation. “We have assured to rehabilitate the shopkeepers,” said an official of town service (engineering) wing of the RSP.

“Now the road expansion work can be undertaken by the works department without any hitch. The problems of the traders would be sorted out by the RSP,” said additional district magistrate R.N. Mishra.