Illegal encroachments being razed on Petanala Road in Cuttack on Wednesday.

The drive led by police cleared the encroachments to keep the main thoroughfares as well as busy junctions free from any kind of obstructions.

The joint eviction squad, including officials of Cuttack Municipal Corporation, development authority and electricity department, razed over 40 shops and other temporary kiosks that had come up in an unauthorised manner"Keeping in view the rising accidents and acute congestion during rush hours, all the illegal encroachments have been cleared and a fine of Rs 40,000 have been collected from the violators," said Dalai. The four-lane road constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 18 crore was inaugurated by chief minister Naveen Patnaik in 2015. It has now been renamed as Adikabi Sarala Das road by Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) in August this year. The 3-km road from Ashwini hospital connects CDA sector 10 and also acts as vital connecting link between Krushak Bazar, several localities at Bidanasi and High Court via the Ring Road. Dalai said that as the approach road towards Petanala road from Krushak Bazar is very narrow, commuters as well as residents of CDA were facing problems due severe traffic congestion here. The development authority as well as the roads and buildings division is contemplating to keep the spaces along the road free from encroachments for future expansion proposals.

"The approach road from Krushak Bazaar is very narrow and due to illegal encroachments in the form of temporary kiosks and parking, we were finding it tough to travel towards CDA via Petanala Road," said Sambit Prakash Rout, 34, a commuter. He also said that a lot of commuters were forced to travel at least 2km extra in a bid to avoid the rush on the road and were taking the Satichoura road to travel towards CDA sectors 8, 9 and 10. CDA enforcement officer, The enforcement activities were stopped for almost three months for Dussehra and subsequent Bali yatra. We are preparing for a special drive against illegal encroachments that will be launched in the second week of December," said Swain.Illegal vendors will be removed in a phased manner with assistance from the police," Swain said.

Text by Vikash Sharma

Picture by Badrika Nath Das