In yet another initiative to ease the traffic congestion in the city, the Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) authority carried out a drive to clear the encroached space along the Dasamighat road at the Battala area in Agartala on Thursday.
The AMC authority made a prior announcement informing the traders about the impending eviction drive and accordingly, the AMC authority demolished the shops along the roadside.
“The AMC issued a seven-day ultimatum and urged the shop owners to remove their shops from the roadside. However, the shopkeepers did not pay heed to the announcement and removed the shops from the street. So the AMC authorities had to demolish the shops to clear the road”, AMC personnel said.
After BJP won the AMC polls, Mayor of the AMC Dipak Majumder made it clear that the authority would take initiative to ease traffic congestion in the city and free up illegally encroached areas.
For this purpose, illegal constructions would be brought down and encroached spaces would be vacated after serving notices to concerned persons. Apart from making the city congestion-free, the drive would be carried out as part of the City beautification.
AMC authorities recently carried drives at Hawkers’ Corner and the Mayor visited the main market area – Maharajganj Bazar in the city. He repeatedly urged the traders to vacate the encroached spaces and demolish the illegal structures.
As the appeal did not get a response, the AMC authority evicted the roadside vendors in Hawkers’ Corner to smooth traffic movement. For a few days after the drive, vendors along the side were not noticed – however, recently they have returned to the same old place crowding the entire area.
“Clearing the roadside from the clutches of encroachers is always a welcome move for the pedestrians. However, it is likely that the vendors would return with their shops again here and the situation would again become congested”, locals said.
