The demolition drive on unauthorised religious structures in  Cuttack
has assumed pace with the administration on Monday razing as many as 12
shrines.

Bolstered by the smooth and incident-free manner in
which Gundicha temple was demolished, the revenue administration went
ahead with the drive cleaning up the entire stretch of Ring Road on both
sides from Ganesh Ghat to Khan Nagar.

As many as 12 temples and
religious structures, big and small, were cleared off that included
Shirdi Sai temple and Shani Mandir.

The operations went on
smoothly without any semblance of protest or resistance at any place.
Around five bulldozers were pressed into service as the drive was
carried out under heavy security. More than 15 platoons of police were
deployed to prevent any untoward incident.

Till date, the administration has completed demolition of around 20 temples of the more than 200 identified as unauthorised.

Last
week, Gundicha temple, along with other major shrines at Shyama Shyam
temple, Ram mandir and Bhakti Vedanta Ashram were razed to the ground.

The
demolition would now continue further ahead on Ring Road on the
Kathjodi river along Khan Nagar to Press Chhak stretch, officials said.