Over 40 shops razed in anti-encroachment drive in Odisha’s Khordha

An anti-encroachment and eviction drive to clear unauthorized structures and establishments in Khordha city resumed this morning with several shops located on government land in the Marwari Patti area being removed.

Two platoons of police were deployed at the site to ensure security as bulldozers carried out the eviction process. As per the latest reports, the district administration cleared more than 40 shops as part of this operation.

Sources indicated that the anti-encroachment drive was prompted after reports of traffic congestion surfaced owing to the emergence of several such unsanctioned cabins. The district administration's plans to beautify the city were also left at a standstill owing to ‘land grab’ by such structures.

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As such on December 10, an eviction drive commenced under which several unauthorized roadside cabins and tin stalls were removed. However, fierce protests by local vendors and political parties had led to a temporary halt in the drive.

A high-level committee of the district administration then met with various vendor association groups and an arrangement was decided upon which the affected vendors were given five days to remove their belongings and dismantle the structure on their own, with over 166 vendors then receiving eviction notices.

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Following more than two weeks of notice period, the Khordha administration has now resumed its plans to make the city ‘cabin-free’ thereby decongesting roads and enabling the rollout of plans to beautify the surroundings.

Meanwhile, the drive was met with tension as a few vendors tried to self-immolate themselves to protest the razing of their shops.