BDA Demolishes Illegal Structure

Stepping up its act against illegal constructions, the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) began tearing down another commercial complex in the heart of the city on Saturday.
BDA Demolishes Illegal Structure

Stepping up its act against illegal constructions, the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) began tearing down another commercial complex in the heart of the city on Saturday.

The Enforcement Wing of BDA began demolition of top two floors of a four storey garment shop in Unit III along Janpath. BDA had declared the two floors illegal as the building plan was not approved.

Originally, the shopping complex had approval for the ground and first floor. But, the second and third floor were constructed in 2008, allegedly without the approval of BDA.

According to sources, BDA had filed a case against the illegal expansion by the shop owner in 2008 itself. Following which a case had been filed before the Orissa High Court which later gave the BDA a go ahead.

Since then BDA had issued notices to the owner of the garment shop to vacate the premise, but to no avail. When the demolition began on Saturday morning, the shop owner Manikchand Maheswari said that he has not received any notice from the BDA.

“This is shocking for us, we had no clue this would happen and that the top two floors were illegal,” said Maheswari. The shop owners reportedly pay a monthly rent of `2.40 lakh per month to the buildings owner, Subhranshu Samantray.

Enforcement officer of BDA Debaprasad Das said that the case against the garment shop has been going on since 2008 and all the parties involved are well aware of the illegality of the structure.

BDA, he said, has identified 32 more commercial complexes in the city, which violate BDA(Planning and Building Standards) Regulations - 2008 and action will be taken against them.

BDA had begun demolition of a five-storey building which was under construction in Ashok Nagar last month.

But demolition had to be stopped after the building owner got a stay order against the demolition from the High Court, one week after the demolition began.

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