LAST-DITCH EFFORTS: A man salvaging whatever he can after a portion of his bookshop was demolished in Hubli on Thursday. (Right) A woman searching for her belongings amidst the debris of her shop.

HUBLI: The demolition of encroachments by the Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation entered the second day on Thursday with several encroachments in Hubli city being razed to the ground.

The focus on the penultimate day of the operations was on the stretch from Durgadbail to the Bhandiwad mosque in the sensitive Shah Bazaar area, which has many encroachments on either side of the road, and the city bus terminus close by.

Barring old buildings, none of the buildings that have come up on the roadside remained out of the purview of demolition. The rampant encroachments were evident from the fact that at one time, six earth-moving machines were at work on the road tackling encroachments on either side of the road simultaneously. It took more than two hours to cover the two-furlong Shah Bazaar.

The corporation authorities found that drains on either side of the road ran zigzag depending on the encroachments. It appeared that the owners of the buildings had changed the path of the drains. While the demolition squad did find the original drains at some places, there was no sign of them at other places.

The operation at the terminus as well as Shah Bazaar evoked a lot of interest among people. Many bystanders as well as owners of the buildings had assembled at the two places. The police had a tough time keeping the people at bay.

At one time, it looked as though the crowd was getting restive, and the police had to disperse people to defuse the situation. A woman corporator of the Congress tried in vain to intervene on behalf of some shopkeepers.

Sigh of relief

The police with whom she argued asked her to raise the issue with the Commissioner of the corporation. Everybody heaved a sigh of relief when the operation ended peaceful.

The entire area was strewn with debris waiting to be lifted by the demolition crew.

Commissioner of the corporation P. Manivanann, who supervised the operation along with Commissioner of Police Narayan Nadumani, said the first task of the corporation after the demolition drive is over is to build footpaths. The corporation will also take action against complexes which have violated rules, he warned.

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