Resuming its demolition drive between Jairampur Colony and Gorakund Road, Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) on Tuesday demolished more than 30 residential and commercial structures. The structures were coming in way of a road widening project proposed under Smart City initiative.
The drive was carried out between Sitlamata Bazaar and Gorakund. A team of some 250 IMC staff reached the area at 11 am. Four earth movers were pressed into service. The drive was led by IMC additional commissioner Devendra Singh continued until 4 pm.
Heavy police force was deployed in the area. Entry of citizens was restricted to prevent any untoward incident.
“Most of the residents and traders had already removed their constructions, over 30 structures were removed by our team to pave way for widening project,” said Singh.
The civic body officials had to face opposition from local traders. They alleged that the demolition drive caused additional damage to their property due to negligent IMC staff.
Two Prernaganj area traders – Gopal Pandey and Radha Vallabh – alleged that their shops were damaged. “IMC had marked 6ft distance of our shop for demolition, while construction up to 11ft was removed during the drive. Who is going to pay for this additional damage,” they complained.
The civic body plans to widen the road from Gorakund Square to Jairampur Colony via Sitlamata Bazaar, Santha Bazaar, Cloth Market, Narsingh Bazaar and Chhatribagh. This 1200 metre stretch from Gorakund Square to Jairampur Colony had around 300 residential and commercial structures.
While most of the constructions were already cleared, those located between Sitlamata Bazaar and Gorakund were removed on Tuesday.
