COIMBATORE: Two shopkeepers from Edayarpalayam in Coimbatore locked themselves inside the shop opposing the eviction drive by Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation’s (CCMC) Town planning department on Monday.
Over 1.05 acres of land on Edayarpalayam-Vadavalli road in ward 36 of West Zone belongs to CCMC were encroached upon by a few people, who were illegally using the corporation’s land for commercial purposes for several years. In view of this, the Town Planning department had issued multiple notices to the shopkeepers, urging them to evacuate the place at once, but the latter refused to do so, following which, West Zone officials, ward 36 Assistant Engineer (AE) SP Ravikannan and Assistant Town Planning Officer (ATPO) S Kalavathi, along with police personnel, kick-started the eviction drive in Edayarpalayam on Monday in order to retrieve the encroached lands.
According to sources, while seven of the nine shopkeepers evacuated the place peacefully, two of them refused and staged a protest by locking themselves up inside their shops, following which the officials used an earthmover to take down the store’s shutters and bring them out.
Speaking to TNIE, CCMC West Zone Assistant Commissioner M Sekar said, “Around 105 cents of lands owned by the civic body at the Vadavalli - Edayarpalayam Road was encroached by a few persons for several years. Despite issuing notices, they refused to vacate and hand over the land. So with the help of the police, all of them have been evicted now. Currently, we have only locked and sealed the shops. Soon, we shall demolish the illegally constructed shops and use the land for the benefit of the people.”