Rourkela: South Eastern Railway (SER) will soon start an eviction drive to vacate land belonging to it, officials stated here Tuesday. The land has been illegally occupied by hawkers for decades. They have set up makeshift shops on railway land close to the station. DRM Chakradharpur, AJ Rathore during a visit to the railway station here Saturday had issued orders for the eviction drive.
Accordingly, the hawkers were served Sunday a notice period of 48 hours to vacate the land. With the time ending Tuesday, officials informed that they will soon start the drive to get the land back in control of the Railways. “We are going to undertake the drive because the land will be used for specific projects. The railway station here is getting a facelift and for that land is needed,” said a Railway Protection Force (RPF) official.
It should be stated here that after the notice was served on the illegal occupants, local BJD leaders had stepped in. They had a meeting with RPF’s assistant security commissioner AK Singh. During the meeting, they requested the RPF official to provide some more time to the hawkers keeping in mind their economic condition. RPF officials said that during the meeting the BJP leaders also demanded compensation for the shopkeepers. However, Singh apparently rejected their proposal as the land was occupied illegally. The shopkeepers also tried to contact Rourkela BJD MLA Sarada Nayak to get some relief.
However, they could not meet him as he had gone to Bhubaneswar to attend the Assembly session. Sources said that SER is keen to reclaim land that is under its jurisdiction. The third railway track to connect Rourkela with Jharsuguda has been inordinately delayed due to encroachment and permanent settlements. With the BJP government both at the Centre and in Odisha, SER now wants to finish the project as soon as possible. The SER had also undertaken an eviction drive at the Nepali slum situated beside the railway lines a few days back.
