Sambalpur: A massive eviction drive started Friday at Hirakud town. Hirakud Dam officials, with the help of police and Sambalpur sub-collector who is the officiating magistrate, sealed two of its staff quarters while serving notice to other six encroachers to evict the quarters within the next two days. Incidentally, the Hirakud town office of a leading political party (BJD) used to function from one of the sealed quarters.
The Water Resources (WR) Department has taken a firm decision to evict all the illegal occupants from its quarters and allocate them to officials of Odisha Industrial Security Forces (OISF) as they are deployed to protect the dam and its properties. Earlier, it was protected by local police.
The Water Resources Department has 120 staff quarters at Hirakud town. Of these, 90 have been illegally occupied. So, the authorities have decided to evict the occupants and hand over the quarters to OISF. About 100 constables have already been deployed at Hirakud dam area and they are facing accommodation problem. It is expected another 100 constables will join their duty here within a month.
Since these state government quarters have been lying vacant, encroachers have taken advantage of it. While some of them are staying in the quarters, some others have rented them out.
