Residents, commuters face struggle to access footpaths, cycle tracks in city

Time of India

a day ago

Bhubaneswar: Residents, commuters, and pedestrians are facing inconvenience and safety risks as public spaces like roads, footpaths and cycle tracks in the city are being allegedly taken over by haphazard vehicle parking and encroachment by street vendors.
Locals attributed these growing issues to the lack of regular enforcement by civic authorities.
The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) recently attempted to address the problem by evicting vendors from various areas, including the Unit II Market. However, the efforts faced resistance from vendors demanding proper rehabilitation before relocation.
In Jan, during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, the BMC conducted a comprehensive enforcement drive, evicting unauthorised vendors from 55 priority road stretches.
These areas were designated as 'no vending zones', with signboards installed to reinforce the message.
Despite these measures, vendors have returned, occupying spaces directly beneath the warning signs. "The footpaths are taken over by vehicles, and wherever there is some space, it is encroached by street vendors," said Ankita Mohapatra, a pedestrian in Patia area.
In an effort to clearly demarcate public spaces, the civic authorities earlier painted cycle tracks in red and footpaths in green.
However, with the paint fading, vendors and vehicles are once again encroaching on these areas, causing inconvenience to the public.
Urban planner Piyush Rout highlighted the city's infrastructure challenges. "It is visible that the number of vehicles has increased recently, but it looks like the city doesn't have the infrastructure to handle them. Bhubaneswar is one city which has dedicated vending zones. Still street vending is rampant which can be seen as a failure of the administration," he noted.
Responding to the concerns, city mayor Sulochana Das assured that enforcement squads are actively working to remove unauthorised vendors and constructing new vending zones to rehabilitate them. "Vehicle towing is also going on at different places," she added.
Vendors alleged that the civic authorities are forcibly evicting them from areas where they have conducted business for years. Namita Jena, a vendor at Pandara, claimed, "Fake civic body officials recently approached us and intimidated us.
We have filed a police complaint."
Jena emphasised that vendors don't want to conduct business on the road, acknowledging the risks involved. "We are ready for relocation, but BMC needs to ensure that the place where they rehabilitate us is proper to conduct business," she said.
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