Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) on Tuesday carried out an eviction drive on government land in Kalarahanga mouza.

The operation was conducted under the supervision of the Joint Commissioner (Enforcement), BDA, Ranjan Kumar and field supervision by Deputy Director of the General Administration (GA) Department, Amiya Kumar Das in the presence of officials from multiple enforcement and police units.

Despite facing heavy protests from encroachers during the drive, carried out under Plot No. 1683 in Kalarahanga, authorities successfully carried out partial eviction and cleared a significant portion of the encroached government land.

Officials said the eviction operation involved teams from BDA Enforcement Squads 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 along with the Junior Enforcement Officer (JEO), Revenue Inspector of the GA Department, personnel from Infocity Police Station and police forces deployed for maintaining law and order at the site.

During the drive, authorities demolished three under-construction houses, six ACC sheet houses, a chicken shop, a cabin, a kabadi store, four toilets and a water tank that had allegedly been built illegally on government land. In addition, around 150 feet of iron fencing erected over the encroached land was also removed.

Following the operation, approximately Ac 0.300 dec of valuable government land were freed from encroachment. The drive will also continue tomorrow.

“The anti-encroachment drive will continue in different parts of Bhubaneswar to protect government land from illegal occupation. We also urge encroachers to vacate the land voluntarily to facilitate various development works,” said BDA Vice-Chairman Chanchal Rana.