Bhubaneswar: Squatters are reclaiming stretches of Janpath, the city's most important road where a futuristic smart corridor is being planned, a little more than a year after they were evicted from the area.
The entire stretch of Janpath between Vani Vihar and Sishu Bhavan Square has again become an encroachers' den where makeshift shops of various goods - right from fruits and vegetable to furniture - have come up in the middle of the footpaths.
"It has again become difficult to use the footpaths on Janpath as they are encroached upon by vendors. There are so many commercial establishments on Janpath and it is very important to ensure free movement of pedestrians here. As the footpaths lie encroached upon, we are forced to use the main road for walking, risking our life," said Nimai Mishra, a resident of Unit-III.
The city administration, which had evicted all hawkers from Janpath during a massive drive in January 2017, failed to ensure that the hawkers do not return afterwards.
Local residents claimed that there were no patrolling or supervision by the city administration or police to ensure that encroachers do not eat up public space again.
"We have begun the Smart Japath project. The entire stretch will have an array of facilities, such as hangout zones, footpaths and cycle tracks. The administration had assured us that they would provide us with an encroachment-free stretch to continue with our work. But, the reality portrays a different picture," said an official of the private agency presently executing the project on the stretch.
On November 26, 2016, the state government had passed a resolution and formed a joint squad with officials from the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, the Bhubaneswar Development Authority and police to evict encroachers from important stretches.
After the squad was formed, eviction drives were conducted on Janpath and Bidyut Marg in January 2017. The squad was successful in making the roads free from encroachment for a few months. But the hawkers started reclaiming the stretch soon afterwards in the absence of subsequent eviction drives or patrolling. "Eviction drives lose all purpose if subsequent measures are not taken to ensure that encroachers do not reclaim the stretches," said social worker Alok Kar.
Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena, however, claimed that they were continuing with frequent eviction drives to make the city free from encroachment. "Our squad was busy for some time freeing government land in various areas. We will focus on Janpath again," said Jena.
