AMC continues eviction drive; Central Road and MG Bazar cleared

Continuing its ongoing eviction drive across Agartala city, the Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) on Tuesday carried out a major operation to remove encroachments from footpaths and government land along the busy Central Road and MG Bazar areas. Several illegally set-up footpath shops were dismantled during the drive.

The eviction campaign, which began on February 4, is being conducted jointly by teams of the AMC, Traffic Department and the Public Works Department (PWD) to clear encroachments from roads, footpaths and public passages. Major stretches of footpaths were earlier cleared at Battala, Melarmath, Post Office Chowmuhani, Sakuntala Road, Kaman Chowmuhani and in front of Rabindra Satabarshiki Bhavan. Notably, some vendors possessing valid vending licences were also removed from highly congested zones.

Since February 4, the AMC task force has been conducting continuous eviction operations across the city. On Tuesday (February 10), a large team of AMC officials and task force members carried out the drive at Central Road and MG Bazar, where, besides illegal footpath hawkers, several shopkeepers were found storing goods on footpaths, causing severe traffic congestion throughout the day.

Providing details of the drive, AMC Commissioner Saju Vaheed said the corporation had issued repeated public announcements over the past few days urging illegal footpath traders to vacate encroached areas voluntarily. He said the eviction drive was initiated from midnight on February 4 to minimise inconvenience to city residents.

Vaheed added that the operation aimed to ease congestion on footpaths, address frequent water logging after heavy rainfall, and prepare the city for a cleaner and more organised urban environment. He said the drive has continued till Tuesday and will be carried forward in the coming days as well.

He further informed that AMC has intensified cleaning operations of roads, markets, water bodies and residential areas following repeated complaints related to footpath encroachments. All municipal officials have been deployed on the ground to supervise the eviction and sanitation work and ensure its completion within a stipulated time frame.

The AMC Commissioner also admitted that in several areas, footpath hawkers had reinstalled their stalls on footpaths and government land after previous eviction drives. He asserted that all such illegal stalls would be removed again and warned that no one would be allowed to encroach upon footpaths and government land; as such activities cause tremendous hardship to city dwellers.