Jamshedpur: Illegal constructions and kiosks were removed near Tata Steel’s Sunsuniya Gate in Burmamines by district and police team headed by SDO (Dhalbhum) Nitish Kumar Singh on Saturday. This step was taken in continuance of anti-encroachment drive launched in the city to rid pavements, pathways and roads of congestion and ensure smoother movement of people and vehicle.
The drive was targeted at anti-social elements to keep them at bay and curb activities of crime and eve-teasing. The kind of shops which faced the eviction axe included tea stalls, snacks corner, hair-cutting salon, and roadside hotel. Experts feel that the city has not expanded horizontally, as a result of which a major chunk of the population continues to remain concentrated in a 5-km radius.
According to district officials, they would ensure that the key areas are cleared of any type of encroachments including the manner in which the shopkeepers had extended their shops.
The drive which was carried out with a strong team of nearly 150 police personnel was led by SDO accompanied by JNAC officials.
“We have been receiving complaints about roadside vendors, especially fruit vendors putting up their stalls illegally causing jam for commuters especially in the evening,” said SDO Dhalbhum.
Encroachment on government and common land and its misuse for monetary gains is fast emerging as an organized crime in the city with certain dominant persons allegedly involved in it.
Despite claims by the authorities, larger parts of the city are still under the control of several unscrupulous persons. While some of the structures were demolished using earthmovers, some people voluntarily started demolishing the structures on the encroached area.
Despite repeated notices, they had failed to remove the structures, officials said. They went on to add that the eviction drive was taken up in view of a plan to widen the road to enable the operation of buses and traffic through it.
He further added that they are planning to launch a sustained drive to vacate the encroached lands Government command area. Soon after the anti-encroachment drive started, the demolition team removed a closed shop by using the poclain despite protest by the neighboring shop-keepers.
The policemen present on the spot removed the make-shift shops and the wares forcibly. 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 who led the drive said that road-side unauthorized shops were creating traffic congestion and it was necessary to remove them for making that road congestion free.
“We want to streamline the traffic movement in the city. We are taking initiatives to vacate the illegal constructions so that the vehicles can move easily,” he noted.
Kadma, Bistupur, Sakchi, and Jugsalai, which are the busiest areas of the town, over fifty fruit vendors and vegetable sellers have encroached the road and there is always a traffic jam as the fruit vendors have occupied one-fourth portion of the road, making difficult to move the heavy vehicles.
