Ahead of the Nabakalebar festival, the Puri district administration and the railway authorities on Monday began a joint drive and evicted slum dwellers from Ramachandi Balikua Basti adjacent to the railway station here.
The land would be used by the Railways for construction of a yatri nivas to provide accommodation to visiting pilgrims during Nabakalebar due in July 2015. Nearly 30 lakh pilgrims are expected to thong Puri during the ensuing festival, which comes once every 12-18 years.
Bulldozers and other earth moving equipment were used to raze huts and temples in the area. Though the slum dwellers had resisted the eviction initially, later they were forced to relent in the face of massive machines and heavy policemen deployment.
“We have deployed 20 platoons of policemen, eight DSPs and 12 Inspectors of Police to prevent any untoward incident,” Puri SP Asish Singh said, adding that while a part of evicted land belongs to the Railways, the other part is of the municipality. The SP said the police administration is there to help facilitate the basti dwellers to shift to whichever place they liked.
However, slum dwellers complained that they were informed of the eviction only on Sunday evening and hence they could not shift to other places with little time in h and.
“We have been staying here for many years. Where will we go nowIJ Where will our children studyIJ We have no other option but to rebuild our huts here again,” said a dweller. Though it was not officially known where the district administration was going to resettle these slum dwellers, sources said that they would resettled in the Talabania area. The district administration and police have set up a control room near the Puri railway station to oversee the eviction.