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Violence during BMC eviction drive

BHUBANESWAR: An attempt of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) to evict roadside vendors along Rajmahal Square on Thursday turned violent and two officers of the corporation were injured in the violence.

“The road was to be expanded and roadside vendors had already illegally encroached upon a portion of the main road. Our intention was to evict them from the road,” BMC commissioner Aparajita Sarangi said.

Though the BMC officials were present on the spot flanked by police personnel, the vendors caught hold of two BMC staff identified as Pabitra Mohan Kanungo, recovery officer, and Rabindra Nath Parida, security officer, and landed blows on them indiscriminately.

Both Mr. Kanungo and Mr. Parida sustained severe injuries. Vendors said the corporation should have launched the eviction drive before rehabilitating them. However, the BMC commissioner said nobody should dictate them on the eviction matter.

“They have illegally occupied the road. We will not compromise on encroachment on or along the road. The corporation has already secured a legal opinion about illegality of vendors’ occupations,” Ms. Sarangi said.

Stating that it looked bad when city’s centre was encroached upon, the BMC commissioner said, “the incident has made us more resolute. We will resume the eviction within two or three days soon after police administration provides us more security personnel. In the meantime, anybody who wants to discuss the matter can come to us.”

While a pitched battle was fought on the important road leading to the Secretariat, the traffic came to a halt in the morning. “We don’t know what will be our fate after the eviction.

This is our livelihood. We cannot let it slip from our hands. The Government should rehabilitate us and then can think of eviction,” Subash Hota, a vendor, said.

Officers of the General Administration department and the Bhubaneswar Development Authority also took part in the eviction drive. BMC sources said eviction would soon be launched at 15 important road stretches of the city

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