RAWALPINDI, Nov 8: The district government has decided to redesign and expand Sadiqabad Chowk in the backdrop of the mounting complaints of traffic mess at the point, sources in the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) on Saturday told Dawn.

But, as the Chowk is likely to be extended by another 20 feet, the local government has landed into a row with the owners of two gas filing stations and a commercial plaza, which are located on the three sides of the Chowk, the sources added.

The officials of the Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) believe that the owners have encroached some of the state land. But, the owners, on the other hand, argue that they had not encroached the state land.

The TMA is launching an anti-encroachment drive in the city from Monday in which the state land encroached by the people would be demarcated and reclaimed. On the first day of the drive, they said, demarcation would be carried out at Sadiqabad Chowk.

The RDA officials, the sources said, were also ready to initiate work on the remodelling of the site soon after getting the demarcation report from the TMA officials.

Meanwhile, District Nazim Raja Tariq Kiyani during his visit to the site on Saturday directed the director of traffic engineering and planning (RDA), Makeen Shahbaz, to carry out the re-designing project soon after the completion of the demarcation process.

District Officer (DO) Roads, Chaudhry Mohammad Azam, Deputy District Officer (DDO) Roads, Malik Riaz Ahmed, MPA, Fayazul Hassan Chohan, Nazims of the local union council, Raja Gul Zareen Bhatti and Haji Raja Mohammad Khalid, president Anjuman-e- Tajiraan, Chaudhry Iqbal, and a large number of locals were also present on the occasion.

Mr Kiyani said the extension work on the site would start from next month. More than 400,000 people live in the 11 union councils in the area and they face traffic chaos at the point everyday, Mr Kiyani said. The extension of the site, he said, would be in the best interest of the residents of the area.

During the last two years, the district government has spent Rs100 million on various development projects in the city, Mr Kiyani said. He said he was aware of the problems of the area and was trying to redress them on permanent basis.