RAWALPINDI, April 8: Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) on Sunday warned encroachers and people involved in illegal commercial activities in residential areas to either voluntarily abandon the practice or be ready to face huge penalties besides strict legal action.

The last anti-encroachment drive by the civic agency was launched in 2010 and since then the RDA had been failing to purge its territory of encroachments resulting in multiple problems for the people including traffic jams and parking issues.

Although it is a belated move, the RDA claims it will launch a drive against encroachers this week and will not spare anybody involved in the practice.

“We want to warn the violators first and then take action in case our warning falls on deaf ears,” Director General RDA Chaudhry Naseer Ahmed told Dawn.

In Rawalpindi, which is already congested, commercial and residential areas have been swamped by encroachers while footpaths have been literally snatched from the pedestrians.

“Encroachment is one of the major problems of the city and the most worrying thing is that it has witnessed an alarming increase with the passage of time. There must be a drive against the menace every week,” the RDA chief said stressing that political support would be needed to effectively purge the city of it.