The Udaipur Municipality, after years of contemplation and deliberation, finally took a stand and removed the four decades old encroachment on the City Station Road. The corporation team got bulldozers to demolish the illegal construction in front of the Udaipur railway station. These encroachments belonged primarily to people wh lived in the adjacent kacchi basit (Slum) area. The action took place in front of the top police officials, administration and municipal corporation. According to the information, people living there had encroached on the main road till the white strip, which was eventually removed by the corporation and the administration by taking the joint action.

Keeping in mind the security, Additional Superintendent of Police, Chandrasheel Thakur, Deputy SP Tapendra Meena, officers of three police stations and a huge police force were deployed along side the anti encroachment team. The chairman of the Municipality Encroachment Committee, Chogalal Bhoi and other workers, corporation and administrative officers were also present.

People who have been affected by the demolishing of the encroachment have approached the Admnistration with folder hands and asked a place to resettle. The protests increased when the municipality disconnected the water and power supply in that area. Residents even shouted slogans and blamed Gulab Chand Katariya for this action, saying that when Kataria needed votes he used to come and cajole them and make promises. Now that the encroachment has taken place, the leader has disapppeared. 

Commissioner of UMC Himmat Singh Barhat, said that the residents of the area displayed wooden items by encroaching on the white line of the road, which was deteriorating the beauty of the city and the traffic system. Due to this, there have been accidents in the past. Only encroachments that are protruding beyond the demarketed line have been demolished, as per Himmat Singh

Adding further, Barhat said that the purpose is not to hurt or harrass anyone by doing this but the convenience and safety of the residents of the city as well as the safety of tourists are the prime concern of the UMC. He said that the encroachment was upto 10-12 feet onto the road. After the encroachments are removed, the area will be dug up and a wall will be constructed to ensure that there is no encroachment in the future.

Deputy Mayor of UMC, Paras Singhvi, in a conversaiton with UdaipurTimes said that there is no intention to harass anyone by the corporation. Some people have made illegal encroachments in front of the railway station for years, and due to this whenever a tourist comes to visit Udaipur and comes out of the station, they get a bad message. The objective of the corporation is only to remove the encroachment and not to destroy the homes of those living in the kacchi basti.

On the other side, the people whose residence and shops have been destroyed, have said that they been rendered homeless.The residents of the area are not disappointed by the corporation, but only demands the administration to make some arrangements to resettle them elsewhere. There are more than 300 families living in that area for the last 40 years; so if the administration doesn’t make arrangements, it will then create difficulty for the people living there.