Cuttack, Aug. 23: The municipal corporation plans to inaugurate the city's first vending zone near Acharya Harihar Regional Cancer Centre on August 31, but the project has run into rough weather.
Residents today staged a demonstration against the Cuttack Municipal Corporation for building the vending zone over a major drainage channel near the cancer centre.
The municipal corporation had initially planned to build the vending zone near the SCB Medical College and Hospital. But the choice of the site triggered a controversy and the municipal corporation was forced to do a rethink and shift the vending zone to its present location near the cancer centre.
To celebrate Local Self-Governance Day on August 31, the municipal corporation has planned to inaugurate the first phase of the vending zone by handing over 56 shops. However, today's protest led by former councillor said Prasanna Tripathy, 75, has cast a shadow on the corporation's inauguration plans.
"Though we welcome the move of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation to rehabilitate the street vendors, but the selection of the spot for the city's first vending zone is not appropriate because it has been constructed over a major drainage channel," said Tripathy, who stays nearby.
Tripathy said Orissa High Court in 2012 had ordered shifting of the vending zone that had come up along the road leading to SCB Hospital.
Sources said the corporation had built around 80 shops along the SCB boundary wall that were subsequently demolished after the traffic management committee had raised objections.
Tripathy said that the new vending zone would result in acute congestion on the road from the cancer centre to Bhubananand Odisha School of Engineering (BOSE) campus.
In an earlier order on the project, the court had allowed building of the vending zone provided the site of construction was 50 metres away from the main gate of the SCB. This order was subsequently violated and court ordered demolition of the vending zone.
"The high court, in its previous order, had directed for filing of criminal cases against those encroaching on drainage channels. This time too the civic body has violated the order by building the new vending zone on a drainage channel," said Pradip Sahu, a local resident.
Sahu said the new vending zone would lead to acute traffic congestion on the stretch from Mangalabag to the BOSE campus. The encroachment on the particular drainage channel will also lead to acute waterlogging near the SCB hospital as well as other localities such as Malla Sahi.
However, senior officials of the civic body have allayed fears of Tripathy and the local residents.
They claimed that adequate measures had been taken to ensure that the construction of the vending zone did not lead to the obstruction of the drainage channel.
"We have already spent around Rs 30 lakh for improvement of the drainage channel and adequate space has also been kept to facilitate manual desilting of the drain whenever necessary," said municipal commissioner Gyana Das.
Deputy commissioner of police Sanjeev Arora told The Telegraph that adequate steps would be taken to ensure there was no traffic congestion at the spot once the vending zone started operating.
