Alarm Bells For Encroachers As BMC Launches Unique Vehicle To Make City Free Of Encroachments
Taking a strong and unique stand against encroachers, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation on Monday decided to ‘bell’ the cat by launching a dedicated vehicle named ‘Ghanta Gaadi’, literally meaning a vehicle with a bell, to embarrass encroachers and make them realise their mistakes.
In order to equip the city with better and safer footpaths and lesser encroachments, this new initiative of BMC aims to sort out all encroachment issues on footpaths and roadsides of the city under the supervision of a special squad.
Mostly street vendors have encroached upon the footpath area in the city, creating hurdles for pedestrians and leading to traffic chaos. This vehicle would not only ring the alarm bells for encroachers but also try to change the mindset of common people.
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The vehicle would ring bells infront of the encroached shops so that the person concerned feels embarrassed and voluntarily gives up on the encroached area. The vehicle will be monitored by the Deputy Commissioner of Enforcement of BMC with help of some supervisors. The squad will move on in all the zones randomly without any prior notice. This model is already implemented in various leading cities of India including the National Capital Region, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. But this is for the first time, it is being taken up in Bhubaneswar.
The vehicle was inaugurated by Bhubaneswar MP Dr. Prasanna Patasani in presence of Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena, Deputy Mayor K. Shanti and senior officials of BMC.
Talking about this vehicle, Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said, “We are very hopeful that with this new invention in the city, it would not help beautifying the city, it would be convenient for pedestrians to roam around.’
He further added, “These days, BMC is coming up with many such new projects in the city for the cleanliness and beautification of the city and this is one such step to make the city more clean and beautiful.”
