HARIPUR: The district administration has restricted its anti-encroachments operation to temporary structures like pushcarts and handcarts and put off action against the cemented illegal setups in the city, according to locals.

Official sources said that the administration had three days ago made announcements through TMA staff and office-bearers of All Traders Association that it would take legal action against the shopkeepers, who encroached upon the government land in the main bazaar, Mochi Bazaar and on link roads.

However, the illegal occupants did not remove the extended portions voluntarily and continued to allow the pushcart owners to use the encroached upon space in front of their shops.

The local administration has in reaction confiscated over a dozen pushcarts in Mochi Bazaar and warned the shopkeepers to restrict their business to their shops.

The officials of district administration, TMA and traffic police, who took part in the anti-encroachments drive, also banned parking of vehicles in Mochi Bazaar.

Admin avoids action against illegal cemented structures

However, the administration has once again avoided action against the illegally built cemented portions of shops and plazas in the main bazaar, Mochi Bazaar, Saeyen Sehaili Road, Bazaar Loharan, Rehmania Road and GT Road owing to unknown reasons.

Official sources said that over 75 shops and cemented structures that were built illegally over irrigation channels passing through Mochi Bazaar, Saeyen Sehaili Road, Bazaar Loharan and Rehmania Road were the main reason of blocking the flow of water in the irrigation channels.

They said that owners and shopkeepers, who got the land on lease from TMA right from Ra-i-Ama Road up to Sheranwala Gate in the main bazaar, encroached upon four to 12 feet of government land, meant for road and sidewalks.

They said 99 per cent shopkeepers in the main bazaar and near link roads sublet the space in front of their shops to pushcart owners.

The deputy commissioner was not available for comments.

THEFT: Unidentified persons stole more than three dozen boxes with bees and their hives worth hundreds of thousands of rupees.

Mohammad Shoaib Sadiq, a resident of Khalabat Township, told police that he was a honey dealer and had kept his 37 boxes with different species of bees for honey extraction.

He said that the hives were full of honey and he was scheduled to extract the honey after two days when unknown thieves made off with 37 boxes on Monday night. Meanwhile, three policemen were injured, two of them critically, when their van fell into a roadside gorge near Panian on GT Road on Tuesday.

Local people shifted the injured police men to Haripur Trauma Centre for treatment.

The injured were identified as head constable Nisar Khan, constable Maqsood and constable Abid Khan.

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2020