Commuters to get a smooth ride on Jamshedpur Straight Mile Road

Police and Tata Steel UISL take initiative

Jamshedpur, July 21: Commuters can look forward to a smooth ride on the Straight Mile Road, which connects Bistupur with Baridih to Sakchi. Thanks to the traffic wing of district police and Tata Steel UISL for taking an initiative of  making the road congestion free by carrying out a massive anti-encroachment drive today. Tata Steel UISL is also barricading the roadside pavements to stop encroachment.

During the eviction drive recently around about 100 make-shift shops and temporary structures were razed.  Before carrying out the anti-encroachment drive the traffic police gave half-an-hour time to the vendors, most of them selling vegetables and shop-owners  for removing their belongings. In response to the directive  many of them removed their belongings while several of them ignored the instructions hoping that some or the other  political party activists would come to their rescue.

The policemen present on the spot forcibly removed the make-shift shops and the wares  forcibly . The anti-encroachment drive carried from the Tank Road crossing which meets at the Straight Mile Road was carried out till Baradwari, covering a stretch of about 1 Km.

The kind of shops which faced the eviction axe included vegetable shops, fruit shops, tea stalls, snacks corner, hair-cutting salon and furniture shops.

An official  said that  road-side unauthorised shops were creating traffic congestion and it was necessary to remove them to make that road congestion free.

” Straight Mile Road is an important thoroughfare which witnesses huge traffic throughout the day. But, unauthorised shops which have come up on both the sides of the road often create traffic snarls.  People also tend to park their vehicles in the middle of the road to buy goods from those shops, which often creates traffic related problems. This also results in mishaps. Keeping this in view we decided to carry out the eviction drive on that road,” he said.

According to him, from now onwards they would also ensure that the encroachers do not return to the place from where they have been removed. ” To ensure this we would carry out intensive patrolling on a regular basis,” he said.

Notably, the unauthorised vendors used to enjoy patronage of various political parties which  used to extort a fixed amount ( it ranges from Rs 20 to Rs 50) daily depending on the size and nature of the business. A section of low ranking policemen also used to grease their palms with the vendors’ money. This was the reason such unauthorized shops mushroomed on the road side and were doing a brisk business for years together.

Anil Sharma, a owner of a fast-food shop who had to remove his business from that place said that he was earning his livelihood from that shop but he is  now rendered jobless. An aggrieved Sharma said, ” Where should I go now. I have been carrying out the business for the last five years. The administration must provide us with an alternative place.”