Berhampur to free National Highway 217 of hoardings

BERHAMPUR: The National Highway 217 passing through Berhampur may soon be free of hoardings. The district administration has ordered officials concerned to remove the hoardings from either side of the 12-km stretch of NH passing through the town. "We have asked the officers of the NH, police, revenue and Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BMC) to pull out the hoardings from either sides of the NH 217 for the free movement of the vehicles," said Ganjam collector Krishan Kumar. The big hoardings, which illegally mushroomed along the footpaths, have been causing a lot of traffic problems in the town with residents urging the district administration to solve the problem for quite some time. The issue was discussed at a meeting on the development of Berhampur town held here on Thursday evening. The meeting, presided over by the district collector, was attended by officials of Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Berhampur Development Authority (BDA), besides MLAs from Berhampur and Gopalpur. The district collector also asked BDA officials to conduct a survey to identify open spaces in town and to rid them of encroachment. Some of the open spaces can be utilized for parking vehicles and some of them would be developed as green-belt with plantation and parks, the collector said. Around 150 open plots in the town, reserved by the BDA in different places, have vanished due to the encroachments, he pointed out. The administration also asked the BDA to crack down on buildings which diverted their open or parking spaces for other purposes. The violators would be punished, the collector warned.

Source: Times of India