Town planning: Anti-encroachment drive halted after protest

KHUSHAB: An anti-encroachment operation underway for three days in Sargodha had to be halted temporarily on Saturday after a four-hour protest by residents of several houses built on public property.

The Khushab Tehsil Municipal Authority (TMA) on Saturday demolished four houses in Ghalla Mandi before the operation was suspended. The operation had started from Mianwali-Sargodha Road on Thursday.

Khushab district coordination officer Syed Gulzar Hussain told The Express Tribune that the operation would re-commence from Ghalla Mandi on Monday. He said the administration had a seven-day target to remove around 263 encroachments from the city. A team of 34 people, including the deputy district officer (Revenue) and TMA and police officials had been assigned to undertake the task. Hussain said they had to clear the Ghalla Mandi so that the area could then be reserved for pushcart vendors that had currently set up their stalls illegally in the city’s four main markets at Main Bazaar, Mall Road, Jamia Road and Shams Road. “In the next phase, these markets would be made encroachment free,” he said.

However, the residents of Ghalla Mandi said they would not leave the place before the administration provided an alternative. They blocked the Mianwali-Sargodha Road for several hours by burning tyres during Saturday’s protest. The protestors dispersed after DSP Matha Tawana Pervaiz Niazi, the SHO of Quaidabad and former provincial minister Malik Saleh Muhammad Gunjiyal convinced them that they would convey their grievances to the administration.

The protestors said they were daily-wage labourers and earned only enough to feed their families.

They said they had been living in the area for nearly 50 years now. They said they were residing in tents until they constructed brick houses a few years ago.

The protestors said the government should arrange land for them somewhere else before demolishing their houses. They referred to a three-marla housing scheme project launched in1990 to provide shelter to poor people, saying that a similar scheme could be launched for them.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Muhammad Sher, Muhammad Saleem and Sajjad said the operation was unjust. “The government is only focusing on Ghalla Mandi because poor people live here. None of the anti-encroachment drives had yet touched the areas where influential people have encroached upon public land,” they said. They added that L/B type near Mall Road and D-Block near Jamia Road were full of encroachments but the administration had never initiated an operation there.

“They should also demolish the shops set up at Lorry Adda and Sabzi Mandi on the land allocated for public rest rooms,” they said.

Khushab tehsil officer regulation (TOR) Shahid Farooq denied that the administration was removing encroachments selectively. “This is just the beginning. The operation will encompass the entire tehsil and no encroachment will be spared,” he said.

He said he was only performing his job. “These are structures built on public land. My orders are to remove them so that state land can be used for rightful purpose,” he said.

The TOR said that in the initial phase he was focusing on temporary encroachments. “Once we’re done with removing these, we’ll take on the demolition of permanent structures throughout the city,” he said.

Traders get assurance:

The traders of Mall Road and Main Bazaar on Saturday held a meeting with the Khushab DDOR and TOR in which they were assured that they would be given time to remove encroachments including shades put up outside their shops. The meeting was arranged after the traders were issued warning letters by the tehsil administration to remove these shades and demolish permanent encroachments.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2011.