Illegal encroachments razed in massive eviction drive in Sambalpur

Sambalpur district administration carried out a massive eviction drive on Monday to clear encroachments that had come up illegally on government land starting from Jail Chhak up to Dhanupali Police Station Chhak in the city.

According to sources, encroachers were evicted from the roadsides and several permanent structures were demolished. The enforcement team comprised senior officials and subordinate staff of Sambalpur Municipal Corporation (SMC). After the eviction drive is over, road construction and expansion works will be carried out.

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“Public Works Department (PWD) earlier requisitioned to construct a 22-metre long road in this locality. However, the existing road here is quite narrow as you see. Hence, we are demolishing our (SMC) shops. We had issued notices to all beneficiaries. Some shop owners have cleared their dues and others will make payment in the days ahead. When new shops are constructed instead, those owners will be given priority during allotment,” an SMC enforcement officer said when contacted.

“It would not have been possible to expand the road without eviction,” the official added.

“We were issued notices but were not given sufficient time gap. Even to the extent, no time for eviction was mentioned in the notices. We are poor and unhappy with such type of high-handedness of the SMC authorities,” a shop owner expressed.

Notably, the eviction drive was underway till the time when this report was filed.