PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, March 27: Over 150 makeshift shops were razed to ground during an anti-encroachment drive carried out by district administration on the divider of the Dimna Road in Mango late last evening.
Four bull- dozers were pressed into service amidst heavy police bandobast during the eviction drive which began at 7 pm and continued till 10 in the night.
The anti- encroachment drive was carried out under the supervision of the deputy commissioner of East Singhbhum Vijaya Jadhav. Dhalbhum SDO A K Sinha, six magistrates and officials of Mango Notified Area Committee and Jusco were also present on the occasion.
The razed shops included vegetable and fish stalls, a couple of make-shift eateries, mechanic shops and shops selling pots and other earthenwares.
The deputy commissioner and other senior district administrative officials had inspected the encroached divider on the Dimna Road a couple of days back.
Announcements were also made through the public address system asking the encroachers to leave the divider which often creates traffic hassles on the busy Dimna Road, which is a gateway to the Steel City from National Highway 33.
Notably, the encroachments were removed from the Dimna Road as Jusco has plans to beautify the divider (median).
A flyover project is also proposed at the Dimna Road, initiative for which has been taken by local legislature and state health minister Bana Gupta.
Jusco has already started the beautification work on certain stretches of the median on the Dimna Road . In one of the stretches the Tata Steel subsidiary has also set up an open gym for the use of local people.
The public utility company has plans to beautify the entire stretch of the median of the 3.5 Km Dimna Road.
The district administrative officials said they have plans to make the entire stretch of the Dimna Road free from any encroachments.
The encroachments often lead to traffic congestion creating inconvenience for daily commuters on the Dimna Road.