Manipal: The Udupi TMC in an all of a sudden move has embarked upon the task of evicting as many as nine petty shops at Eshwaranagar in Manipal for the construction of bus bay.

The eviction drive was led by two engineers who had arrived at the spot with a JCB on November 8, Thursday morning. However, the works were stalled by locals including a few Congress leaders and demanded that alternate arrangements be made to the evicted petty shopkeepers. They also said it was not proper to evict the shoo [keepers without serving any notice.

Some of the petty shopkeepers whose shops have been razed to the ground wailed that still three to four months were left for their permit to expire and also said they have been paying taxes to the TMC regularly.