Bhubaneswar Municipality Corporation workers demolish illegal constructions at Sahid Nagar. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, April 27: More than 50 illegal structures, mostly shops, were today demolished in the Shahid Nagar market area following a joint drive by Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA).

These shops had encroached upon the road in front of the market. The drive began around 10am with three bulldozers getting into the job behind the newly constructed BMC apartment Bhabani. The vendors were caught off guard by the drive. The operation lasted for about two hours.

“They began the demolition without warning. We have lost everything,” said one of the shopkeepers who lost his property to the bulldozers.

The officials, however, said that the shopkeepers and some of the local residents had encroached the roadside space making the roads congested.

Many illegal cemented structures, some permanent and some temporary in nature, had come up.

“We had given them notice to vacate the area as a demolition drive was to be carried out. Today, when we came some of them had removed their belongings while others had not. It is not our fault,” said S. Dhanwar, enforcement officer of BDA, who was present during the drive.

According to BMC officials, even some shopkeepers with legal structures had violated the law by constructing unauthorised extensions of their structures, which jutted onto the road.

Some of them had even encroached upon the drains in the locality, thereby causing waterlogging.

“Despite several attempts to persuade people to remove these structures they have continued to encroach the road. So we decided to act against them,” said Sumita Behera, the recovery officer of BMC who was overseeing the drive.

The shopkeepers, however, had a different take. “I had taken a room on rent to set my tailoring shop. I did not know when they served notice. Today, they destroyed my shop. I don’t know what will I do now for a livelihood,” said Aleem, a tailor.

Two platoons of police force were deployed to maintain law and order during the drive. “As we are part of the city management group, which looks after development works in the city, we have to be present to provide protection,” said a police officer in charge of the drive.

After the demolition job behind the apartment, the authorities moved towards the Shahid Sporting Club and pulled down illegal structures and roadside cabins in the area.

Padmanav Das, the councillor of ward No. 37 under which the area falls, said that the drive was the need of the hour. “The authorities should continue with this and not allow illegal structures to come up again,” he said.