Eviction drive in Cuttack to decongest traffic

CUTTACK: Encroachments along the road stretch from Bajrakabati to Khan Nagar were on Wednesday pulled down in a special drive carried out by the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) and Commissionerate Police on Wednesday.Recently, the Orissa High Court had directed the authorities concerned to remove encroachments for free flow of traffic in Cuttack. Narrow roads of the city have  shrunk because of encroachments, which ranged from petty shops to pucca constructions.Subsequently, a committee was formed under the chairmanship of the Commissioner of Police (Bhubaneswar-Cuttack) which, during a meeting on June 3, decided to demolish all the illegal structures that have come up along the two roads of the city. The roads are  Bajrakabati to Khan Nagar via Dolomundai and Badambadi and Buxi Bazaar to Choudhary Bazaar via Tinikonia Bazaar.Accordingly, the eviction drive was carried out on the Bajrakabati road stretch on Tuesday morning.Assistant Commissioner of Police Krushan Chandra Samal said the drive would continue on Thursday and Friday. The CMC is working out a plan to set up vending zones at strategic locations in the city to rehabilitate the vendors whose shops would be demolished during the drive.