In order to make Jamshedpur a better place to live and commute, traffic police in league with the administration embarked on a massive anti-encroachment drive on Wednesday.
The traffic wing of East Singhbhum police on Wednesday morning carried out the anti-encroachment drive on stretch of Straight Mile Road in commercial hub Sakchi’s market area.
Police force led jointly by Sakchi traffic inspector Subodh Srivastava and Sakchi police station officer-in-charge Indu Bhushan Ojha started the drive during which nearly 70 makeshift were removed between Sakchi roundabout to Ramlila Ground.
The kind of shops which faced the eviction included vegetable shops, fruit shops, tea stalls, snacks corner, hair-cutting salon and furniture shops. Experts feel that the city has not expanded horizontally, as a result of which a major chunk of the population continues to remain concentrated in a 5-km radius.
The police also damaged the unauthorised extensions of 30 permanent shops on the roads and warned of levying spot fines of Rs20,000 on shopkeepers if the extensions are not removed within 24 hours.
East Singhbhum deputy superintendent of police (traffic) Rakesh Mohan Sinha said that the anti-encroachment drive was carried in view of traffic congestion in the Sakchi market. “We would be carrying out similar drive in different lanes and roads inside the Sakchi market regularly as part of our objective to decongest roads in the market area,” said the traffic DSP.
Similar drives would be carried out on the road opposite Basant Talkies, Tin Shed Market and on Kalimati Road. This drive will make a way for smooth flow of traffic. Acting on frequent complaints made by residents, the traffic police have started drigve from Sakchi.
“We cannot comprise with the safety of market place. Moreover , people also find it inconvenience to move into the market freely with the passages getting choked due to the make-shift shops,” said Subodh Kumar, the SDO.
According to Kumar, they would ensure that the market place is cleared of any type of encroachments including the manner in which the shopkeepers had extended their shops.
A police official further informed that the respective police station officials and traffic inspectors have been directed to fine shopkeepers of Rs20,000 in areas freed of encroachment henceforth if portion of their shops are found extending onto to roads.
Jamshedpur circle inspector Shanti Prakash Thakur was the magistrate deputed by the district administration during the eviction. Encroachments in the city are omnipresent and thriving, much to the discomfort of the ordinary citizens. The city is known for the encroachments which blot the urban landscape.