A day after the report published in Hindustan Times on massive encroachments in city areas falling under the jurisdiction of Pathankot Improvement Trust, its officials remained busy on Thursday in removing encroachments from the APK Road where a large number of kiosks or other temporary structures have been set up for the past many months.
Trust executive officer Parminder Singh along with SHO Sukhjinder Singh led an army of staff to confiscate items from many makeshift structures selling fast food in that area.
On the other hand, the Pathankot municipal corporation seemed to be taking its own time to act against the encroachments in its areas.
As the anti-encroachment drive began, kiosks owners seemed worried over their fate but petty traders and roadside vendors plying their business from handcarts tried to escape from the scene along with their 'rehris' and other goods. However, many were caught. The officials seized four trolleys-fulls of handcarts and other items and took them to the Pathankot Improvement Trust office. Many challans were also issued to erring persons on the spot for encroaching public space.
Visibly happy with the drive, a local resident Ravinder Kumar said that encroachers first set up temporary shacks to start with and later constructed concrete kiosks on land worth crores. “Such drives should be a regular affair so as to ensure adequate space to the commuters and not encroachers,” he remarked.
{{/usCountry}}Visibly happy with the drive, a local resident Ravinder Kumar said that encroachers first set up temporary shacks to start with and later constructed concrete kiosks on land worth crores. “Such drives should be a regular affair so as to ensure adequate space to the commuters and not encroachers,” he remarked.
{{/usCountry}}Improvement Trust EO Parminder Singh appealed to the local shopkeepers to act responsibly and keep their goods inside their shops and not encroach public space.
He assured that the drive would be intensified to remove all encroachments in the city.
Interestingly, Trust officials once again forgot to take note of encroachments done exactly opposite to their office gate where shopkeepers had encroached at least half of the road by placing their goods and articles.