Bhubaneswar: Stepping up its drive against encroachment, the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) carried out eviction in Nayapalli area of Bhubaneswar.
As per information, the BDA completed the process of eviction which was launched earlier and removed encroachment from around 5,000 sq ft government land in the capital city on Saturday.
As part of the operation, BDA teams razed at least six houses, six bathrooms, a half-built brick wall, and a portion of a boundary wall.
It may be recalled that the site was cleared earlier in 2023-24, but squatters returned after demolishing the boundary wall. Of the 19 encroachers, 12 secured interim relief from the Orissa High Court, leaving seven structures for demolition.
Acting on an order from the additional director of estates-cum-additional secretary of the general administration department, the enforcement squads initiated the eviction drive in Nayapalli on October 30. The operation was curtailed then due to time constraints. The squads cleared around half an acre of encroached land. Structures demolished included three tin shed extensions, two service centres, a vehicle service unit, seven hotels, fast-food kiosks, wooden cabins, mobile shops, bathrooms and advertising boards. In Pandra, BDA squads carried out a two-day operation this week, reclaiming over 1.3 acres of govt land.
Eight tin or asbestos shops, 10 asbestos houses, 8 toilets, a water tank, and a 200-ft boundary wall were demolished on Tuesday, while the BDA team cleared 20 asbestos houses, 7 toilets, 5 water tanks, and 3 tin or bamboo sheds in the latest operation.
Enforcement officers supervised the operation with heavy police deployment to maintain law and order. The crackdown comes against the backdrop of data presented in the assembly recently, which revealed that nearly 498 acres of govt land in Bhubaneswar alone has been encroached, with Jaydev Vihar topping the list with 148 acres.
