ENCROACHMENT IN SHAHPUR

ENCROACHMENT IN SHAHPUR

18-SEP-ENG 5

RAJIV NAYAN AGRAWAL

ARA----------------------------The NH-84 Ara-Buxar main road, from Badi Mathiya to Thana Mor, within the Shahpur town area, experiences traffic jams every half hour daily. This problem has become so severe that it has become a common problem for the people. The traffic jams cause immense hardship. Whenever a traffic jam occurs, vehicles have to wait for hours to travel from Shahpur Bazaar to Ara Buxar or Banahi Station. This situation is extremely troublesome not only for traffic but also for the general public.

There are many reasons behind the traffic jams. Even a single large vehicle entering the market worsens the situation. The traffic jams are becoming more severe day by day. Despite this, the administration is failing to address this issue. People find it difficult to even walk, which impacts their daily activities. Local residents say that encroachments are rampant in Shahpur, with carts and shops being set up on the road, not just on the road and footpath.

Shopkeepers encroaching on the road and footpaths, causing frequent traffic jams. Consequently, motorists and other vehicle drivers park their vehicles on the road and go shopping, leading to traffic jams. This situation is proving detrimental not only to traffic but also to local merchants.

It should be noted that the encroached road land was previously cleared of encroachment, but the situation gradually returned. Clearing Shahpur Bazaar of encroachment has become a challenge for the administration. The city administration does not want to offend its public representatives, which is why they are unable to resolve this issue.

However, when the Nagar Panchayat administration began permanently fencing the footpaths on both sides of the road with iron angles, the Nagar Panchayat office was inundated with calls from public representatives. As a result, the administration was forced to abandon the fencing, leaving the work incomplete. The situation now is such that clearing the Shahpur main road of encroachments has become a challenging one.

It should be noted that in December 2015, an uncle and niece riding a motorcycle died on the spot in a truck-bike accident near the PNB Bank on Shahpur NH 84. Following this incident, angry villagers set the truck on fire. The road blockade ended after considerable effort by the then Superintendent of Police, Naveen Chandra Jha, DSP Dwarika Pal, SDO Bal Mukund Prasad, Shahpur BDO Prashant Kumar, and CO Madikarnika to pacify the angry crowd.

Responding to public demand, SDO Bal Mukund Prasad launched a roadside encroachment drive and removed the encroachments on both sides of the road. However, shopkeepers re-encroached the footpaths shortly thereafter. This situation demonstrates that despite administrative efforts, the arbitrariness of local traders continues.

Subsequently, in July 2022, on the instructions of the Bhojpur District Magistrate, the local administration measured and demarcated the Ara-Buxar Main Road (NH 84) and the Shahpur-Banahi Road in Shahpur to remove encroachments from the roads. Following the demarcation, Rajneesh Kumar, the then Executive Officer of the Shahpur Nagar Panchayat, issued notices to approximately two hundred encroachers.

After completing the legal process of issuing three notices, the encroachments on both sides of the Ara-Buxar Main Road in Shahpur were removed in June 2023. This initiative was a positive initiative by the administration, but it was not permanently successful. The current situation is that the problem of encroachment and traffic jams in Shahpur is not only a complex issue, but also an open challenge to the administration by the roadside vendors.