Karnataka - Mysore   

Demolition of illegal structures resumed

Staff Correspondent

15 feet of footpath encroached on Bangalore-Nilgiri Road

STATING THEIR CASE: Traders arguing with corporation personnel during the demolition drive in Mysore on Monday.

MYSORE: After a three-day suspension, the Mysore City Corporation's drive to remove encroachments on footpaths was resumed on Monday with renewed vigour. The corporation demolished illegal structures on the Bangalore-Nilgiri Road, Agrahara area, Tipu Circle and other places in the city.

Just like the corporation stumbled upon the encroachment of the entire road linking Ashoka Road and Bangalore-Nilgiri Road, the squad found that the footpath on the Bangalore-Nilgiri Road had been encroached to an extent of 15 ft.

Signboards

The removal of the encroachment is expected to give more space for traffic on the busy road. Corporation personnel began removing large signboards from lodges that were hanging over the footpath while the bulldozer began demolishing compound walls that had been erected around several of these buildings. The encroachments were found from Ayodhya Lodge to the Five Lights Circle.

The Corporation Commissioner, A.B. Ibrahim, who visited the area, asked corporation personnel to mark the area meant for demolition with green paint. The corporation authorities will also hold talks with the owners of Ananda Vihara Kalyana Kantapa and the Bishop's House so that encroachments can be cleared and allow the officials to take up road-widening works.

Voluntary action

The corporation began the demolition drive at 6 a.m. from Hotel Maharaja Complex opposite the Suburban Bus Stand. There was little resistance from owners of business establishments and they readily agreed to fall in line. Many of them even volunteered to remove the encroachments.

A large number of onlookers had gathered on the road and the police had a tough time controlling the movement of traffic on the road. The shelter erected in front of Hotel Ramashree, which was encroaching upon the footpath, was also removed.

Meanwhile, there was high drama on Ramanuja Road when activists of the Bharatiya Janata Party staged a protest demanding that the authorities remove the encroachment outside the house of the editor of a Kannada daily. The corporation squad, which was in Agrahara area, was forced to remove the trees planted in front of the house and the iron grills surrounding the green patch.

The corporation also removed more than 20 sheds and an equal number of dwellings built illegally near Tipu Circle.

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