Special drive to demolish encroachment on Grand road

Puri, Apr 19 (UNI) All encroachments and illegal constructions on both sides of the grand road right from the Lions gate of the Jagannath temple to the Gundicha temple in this pilgrim city will be demolished before the annual car festival.

Revenue Divisional Commissioner(RDC) and Chief Administrator of the Jagannath Temple Suresh Chandra Mahapatra told newsmen here that the District Magistrate and the executive officer of the Puri municipality had been directed to conduct a special drive to evict all the encroachments besides permanent constructions over the drains.

Last year the administration had identified 72 numbers of pucca constructions over the two drains being used for commercial purposes. Due to these unauthorised constructions, the drains could not be properly cleaned as a result the drain water inundates the grand road.

The authorities also dropped the eviction drive against the encroachers following political interference but this year it appeared that the RDC was determined to clear all illegal construction and encroachments to facilitate smooth conduct of the car festival, official sources said.

UNI