The dilapidated houses of Assamese writer Lakhminath Bezbaroa situated at Nelson Mandela Chowk here has created serious traffic problem for which local residents had been insisting the administration to demolish it for greater interest of the people.
The design of the Rotary junction, adjacent to the second bridge over the Mahanadi was changed just to save Bezbaroa’s house by the Public Works Department (PWD).
“The straight approach road to the bridge had been curved to save the house which is causing accidents of serious nature,” said Manas Boxi, a leading youth leader, who led a delegation to submit memorandum to the Collector.
The delegation explained that because of the house the PWD had to change the plan by constructing a bad curve “like a death trap” for the people. Considering the interest of the people, Bezbaroa’s house should be demolished, the memorandum said.
Earlier the locals had staged demonstration demanding demolition of the buildings which was later prevented by the police.
“We would intensify the agitation if it is not demolished for the public interest. People are witnessing regular accidents mostly on the approach side of the bridge. Accidents started before inauguration of the new bridge due to bad curve in the approach portion,” said Boxi.
The members of the Odisha Sanskrutik Samaj, a leading socio-cultural organization and many organizations of Sambalpur, presented memorandums addressed to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik through the Collector in which they demanded demolition of the dilapidated houses of the writer who had no contribution to Odia literature and Odisha during his stay here from 1917 to 1937.
Bezbaroa came to Sambalpur as an employee of a British company for his timber business. He used one building as his residence and another as his office purpose.
The district administration had initially planned to demolish the houses to pave the way for development of Rotary junction. This was opposed by a group of people. Cultural Affairs Minister of Assam Naba Kumar Doley and his media adviser Hrisikesh Goswami had visited Sambalpur in October last year and discussed with the Collector. Later, they called on CM Naveen Patnaik at Bhubaneswar and requested him to preserve the houses. Subsequently, a decision was taken to modify the design of Rotary junction to save them.