Encroachers eat into government land as CMC turns blind eye

A senior officer of CMC, however, clarified that enforcement could not be carried out as most of the officials and staff remained busy in the pandemic management.

Makeshift shops that were demolished on Ranihat-Station Bazaar road as are back on the stretch. (Photo | EPS)

CUTTACK: Barely four months after Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) removed encroachments on Government land for expansion of SCB Medical College and Hospital (MCH), the encroachers are back in the absence of enforcement.

The Ranihat Canal Road and the road from Ranihat to Station Bazaar are two glaring examples.
CMC had carried out a massive eviction drive in phased manner for expansion of the premier Government-run MCH in and around the locality in March and cleared encroachments like slums, club houses, religious structures and makeshift shops from the Government land.

Encroachments on the newly laid Ranihat Canal Road. (Phtoto | EPS)

As many as 454 houses of slum dwellers on both sides of Taladanda canal, 88 unauthorised shopping units, 42 authorised shops of CMC were demolished and people offered a rehabilitation and compensation package.However, in the absence of enforcement, a lot of squatters who were earlier evicted to facilitate expansion of the hospital, have again encroached upon the Government land.

Some shopkeepers have even expanded their business on to the road from Ranihat to Station Bazaar, congesting traffic further on the busy stretch. They have also put up their wares for sale on the road.
In wake of the surge in Covid-19 cases in the Millennium city, the Commissionerate Police on August 2 had decided to introduce one way traffic system in congested and crowded market areas to streamline traffic and maintain social distancing norm but it is yet to clear the roadside encroachments.

Similarly, some slum dwellers who were earlier evicted have started encroaching Ranihat Canal road and use the stretch for selling bamboo products. “Some of them have erected bamboo poles and covered them with polythene sheet. This is how they start encroaching and with no one to oppose, they would begin permanent construction on the land soon”, said a local, requesting anonymity.

Locals blamed lack of civic body’s enforcement activity for re-encroachment. A senior officer of CMC, however, clarified that enforcement could not be carried out as most of the officials and staff remained busy in the pandemic management.