Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA) on Saturday decried the recalcitrant attitude of artisans and traders who refused to vacate unauthorised locations within the territory after a series of warnings.

ACTDA’s managing director, Ossy Onuko, said the agency confiscated some of the artisans’ wares last December but returned them on humanitarian grounds with a warning that they should not return to the unauthorised locations.

He noted that despite the ban on trading at illegal and dangerous locations in Awka, some of the traders and artisans kept trading on road shoulders, drainages and walkways.

Mr Onuko cited the case of a woman whose goods were confiscated in December but returned in empathy after she almost shed blood at the agency’s office.

She was warned not to trade in the unauthorised area any longer.

Mr Onuko noted, however, that the woman was one of those evicted from the same unauthorised spot and whose goods were again confiscated on Friday.

He assured that there was no going back on the Awka urban renewal project, no matter the blackmail by artisans and traders.

Journalists who went around the unauthorised spots on Saturday reported that artisans and traders were back in business in the areas visited.

Meanwhile, a part of the state capital notorious for street trading is now wearing a new look as the shanties there have been pulled down, a journalist reported.

Another area where people traded or revelled under 33 KVA power transmission lines has also been cleared.

Speaking about the danger of conducting human activities under power transmission lines, Mr Onuka said it was deadly and warned residents to steer clear of the area.

He said ACTDA would sustain the clampdown on illegal business sites to make Awka wear the ideal look of a state capital and also protect the citizenry.

(NAN)