Karnataka - Mysore   

MCC resumes footpath clearance drive

Staff Correspondent

Goods kept on pavements seized by authorities

RETRIEVING PUBLIC SPACE: Mysore City Corporation personnel bringing down nameboards of commercial establishments that were jutting into the footpath on D. Devaraj Urs Road in Mysore on Tuesday. — PHOTO: M.A. Sriram

MYSORE: The Mysore City Corporation (MCC) resumed its footpath clearance drive on Tuesday, catching the traders on D Devaraj Urs Road and Shivarampet in the city unawares.

More than 30 personnel of the city corporation arrived at the Dufferin Clock Tower, adjacent to the South Gate of Devaraja Market, in the morning and launched the footpath clearance drive, sending alarm bells among traders in the area. The operation began with the personnel confiscating a few sacks of rice kept on the footpath outside a provision store.

Next, the personnel proceeded towards other shops on Vinobha Bhave Road in Shivarampet, clearing encroachments on the footpaths. At least three trucks and a couple of trailers accompanied the civic personnel to carry the seized materials and debris. Even as the owners of the shops took objection to civic body's clearance drive, the personnel led by Corporation's superintending engineer Shivanna went around picking up items on the footpath and tossing them into the waiting trucks and trailers.

After Santhepet area, the Corporation personnel reached D. Devaraj Urs Road. The squad removed furniture, weighing machines and even portable generators, placed outside the permitted boundaries of the shops.

Vehicles parked on the footpaths outside the shops, were also taken away by the corporation squad. The personnel did not even spare nameboards and signboards of shops that were protruding onto the footpaths. A few coin-operated public telephones, fixed to short poles outside the shop, were also pulled out by Corporation personnel and carted away. The Corporation personnel demolished raised concrete platforms and metal structures put up outside the shop's boundaries.

Several shopkeepers in nearby areas began hurriedly removing their wares from the footpath.

Shopkeepers oppose move

The personnel encountered resistance from shopkeepers at several places. The traders questioned the corporation's action without issuing them prior notice. But brushing them aside, the Corporation personnel went about task and justified their action on the grounds that the footpaths had been encroached upon.

The drive was supervised by assistant executive engineers of the corporation Kondaiah and Kuberappa. The drive is expected to continue on Wednesday also.

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