Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation officials to visit Utkal University to make slum eviction plan

Bhubaneswar: Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials will visit Utkal University on Monday and finalise a plan to evict the slum within the institution’s premises.

Utkal University vice-chancellor Jagneshwar Dandapat said the BMC team will analyse the encroachment scenario on the campus and take action accordingly. “We will provide them with all support,” Dandapat said.

A meeting was conducted between BMC officials and university authorities two days back. “There is a slum inside the campus. Before their eviction, we must think about their rehabilitation. After making all arrangements, we will evict them from the campus,” said a BMC official.

The area behind the boys’ hostels I and II has a slum. People have constructed cow sheds, backyard poultry and kitchen gardens on the encroached land, said a university professor.

Students and alumni have been demanding that the campus be made encroachment-free by evicting slum dwellers.

Meanwhile, university security with the help of police, patrolled the campus on Friday to check unauthorised entry of people. “We completed the process to vacate unauthorised occupants from the staff quarters. We are now monitoring their movement,” Dandapat said.