Bhubaneswar: The joint eviction drive by Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) over the encroachment on Nayapalli Haza was completed Tuesday with demolition of three concrete structures spanning over 5,000 sq ft.
Tuesday’s demolition will pave way for renovation of Nayapalli Haza, which was earlier a water body spread over more than 7 acres of land and currently remains less than 1.5 acres due to encroachments. The water body was filled with construction and demolition wastes dumped by the locals, said BMC sources.
Siltation has immensely contributed to shrinkage of the area of the water body, which once had enough capacity to contain the rainwater of the entire Nayapalli catchment. The natural Drainage Channel No. 10 is also originating from here near Nayapalli Haza.
BDA Additional Commissioner-cum-Member, Enforcement, Bhabani Shankar Chayani, who led the enforcement drive, said, “So far this would be the biggest eviction drive in the city to revive a water body from encroachment and create a wonderful facility where the entire water from the Nayapalli catchment would be collected before it is treated scientifically. The purified water would flow downstream through the Drainage Channel No. 10 which ultimately takes the water load to Gangua nullah on the city outskirts.”
It was learnt that as per the new drainage plan of Nayappali area, redistribution of drainage water into three channels would be up to their discharge point into Nayapalli Haza. This would help solving the problem of flooding and ponding of downstream habitations of Behera Sahi. As a large patch of land adjoining Nayapalli Haza appears to be encroached, land status will be checked and steps would be taken to get all the government land and include them in Nayapalli Haza, without any compromise.
The drainage division of BMC will prepare a comprehensive plan for development of Nayapalli Haza with best in class natural treatment processes. This may include floating wetlands, constructed wetlands, sedimentation tanks and water bubbling or aerators. The objective would be to discharge treated water into Drainage Channel No. 10, which originates from the water body from the heart of Behera Sahi.
On the other hand, a width of 12 metres of the natural Drainage Channel No. 10 shall be maintained from its origin up to its meeting point under Bidyut Marg near ‘The World’ shopping complex.
The joint eviction process was carried out in presence of Nayapalli Police. While three excavators were used during the drive, three platoons of male police, one platoon of female police and four squads from BDA-BMC Enforcement Wing were present.
BMC Zonal Deputy Commissioner (South-West) Deeptirani Sahu, ACP Kishore Chandra Mund, Nayapalli IIC Umakanta Pradhan, BDA Enforcement Officer-II Pramod Patra and liaisoning officer Subhansu Mohanty were also present during the demolition drive.
Eviction done, Nayapalli Haza breathes free
