The drive started at about 9.30 a.m. and continued till 5 p.m. to pave way for the carpeting of the roads in the area. The drive will continue tomorrow also, said MC officials.

For the maintenance of law and order, police force was also deployed at the site of the operation. However, no untoward incident was reported.

"This operation is being undertaken wherever road carpeting is being done," said a senior MC officer, who supervised the drive. He said these encroachments had been hampering the maintenance of water supply and other civic services in the area. The hedges also pose a potential threat as they block the driver's view of the road ahead.

Sector 47 is represented by MC councillor Ranjana Shahi, who a month ago had visited the residents personally to persuade them to remove encroachments on their own. Though the people had then promised her to remove all such encroachments, yet nothing had been done till date.

The affected residents, meanwhile, criticised the enforcement staff for being partisan while removing the concrete structures raised on public land. Some of them alleged that the staff left out some of the encroachments, while demolishing a few others. They also assailed the Corporation for dirtying the area by throwing the debris around.

Instead of beautifying and protecting the open space from stray cattle, the Corporation is bent upon making the city dirty in the name of road carpeting, said a resident on condition of anonymity. The residents of the sector also raised slogans against the Corporation and demanded the suspension of the drive.

Meanwhile, certain illegal constructions and hedges in the backyards were left untouched. When asked, the enforcement staff told Newsline that they had been directed to remove encroachments along the roads only.