Bhubaneswar: The urban development authority is progressing towards setting up an urban history museum here that will display the evolution of the state capital from a temple city to a smart city.

The major hindrance in the execution of the project was encroachment on the land identified for the museum at Unit-VI by a private school for the past 28 years. However, the authorities demolished the school and freed nearly one acre of land on Friday.

The city authorities succeeded in the drive on Friday after the legal tangle between the state and the private scho-ol went in favour of the former. "Nearly one acre of land was illegally encroached upon by the school and we were unable to go for the demolition since the matter was in the court," said an official of the Bhubaneswar Development Authority.

He said that the matter was resolved on Thursday at Orissa High Court when the verdict went in favour of the government. "The school and mass education department furnished the report mentioning that the school had illegally occupied the land. The registration of the school has also been cancelled," said the official.

The general administration department had allotted 2.34 acres at Unit-VI in favour of the Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited for the museum. Of the total land, 1.09 acres was encroached upon by the private school. In the past, the authorities tried to free the land but couldn't succeed since the matter was sub-judice.

"The museum of urban history will have pictorial presentation, audio-visual presentation and timeline, which would depict the story of the city. It will also have a centralised convention centre. The museum will give the visitor an insight of capital city's transformation," said city mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.