The Orissa High Court on Wednesday directed the shop owners of Ashoka Market here to vacate the premises and hand over the keys and possession of their establishments to the authorities by January 31.
The judgment has paved way for development of the promising Smart City project named Bhubaneswar Town Centre, in which the city railway station and its adjoining area of 12 acres would be developed as a world-class infrastructure with various facilities including a multi-modal transport hub. Renowned design consultant Jurong of Singapore would design the hub, which would be an iconic destination in the city.
On Wednesday, the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) presented an action-taken report to the High Court on the hearing of the shop owners as per the court’s orders on December 8 last.
As per the report, a total number of 19 grievances were received from the shop owners and they were heard in person by the BDA VC last month. Based on the hearing by the BDA, it was decided to quickly resolve specific grievances submitted by five shop owners for facilitating of shifting to allotted shops at alternate locations. A decision was also taken to give permission for change of allotment for two shop owners who wanted to take a particular shop other than the one allotted to them and the shops concerned providing no objections in the formers’ favour agreeing to surrender those shops for allotment to petitioners.
It has also been decided to consider change of allotment through a process of lottery subject to availability for eleven shop owners,
who wished to change their allotted shops and had given their preference for BDA shops in other areas.