Tension flew high at Lanjipalli Dhipasahi under ward no-36 of Berhampur Municipality Corporation (BeMC) during an eviction drive carried out by the civic authorities on Tuesday.
The eviction drive, undertaken amid stiff opposition from the residents, took no time to snowball into a pitch battle with the locals resorting to pelting stones at the officials overseeing the drive. The police resorted to lathi charge to disperse the mob.
Sources said, despite the residents putting up a strong resistance, the BeMC authorities on Tuesday carried out the eviction drive, engaging a JCB machine (earth mover). This enraged the people who resorted to pelting stones at the officials and staff, injuring some employees. Not contend with this, the angry mob also caused damage to the earth mover.
The irate residents said they had sought at least five days’ respite as they have some family functions like marriage. But the request fell on the deaf ears of the authorities. They further alleged that the civic body had not issued any prior notice and started demolishing the houses all of a sudden.
In order to control the situation, the police had to resort to lathi charge. Some protestors were also injured in the police counter-measure.
As per the last report, while the police carried out a flag march in the locality, one platoon of police force has been deployed at the site to prevent the situation from aggravating.
However, a palpable tension is learnt to be still prevailing there.