Anti-encroachment drive: Lack of equipment, politics delay campaign

City government ‘months’ away from buying trucks and dumpers.

LAHORE: The city district government of Lahore delayed an anti-encroachment operation by 10 days because it had been unable to get the required heavy machinery, and is still “months” from getting it, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif directed the district coordination officer (DCO) to launch the operation against “qabza mafias” on February 21. The city government recently announced it was delaying the operation till March 3, citing the clean-up work required after the fire at Shah Alam Market.

A city government official said that the machinery required for the operation had not been purchased. He said that each town needed two dumpers and a tractor loader. The city government will buy 18 dumpers and 9 tractor loaders through a tender on the nine towns’ behalf, he said.

The town administrations will later repay the city. He said that the tender process was at an early stage and the process of import and assembly of machinery would take months.

The government is also short of manpower and is using civil defence volunteers, police, and union council and town administration staff to fill the gap, he added.

District officer (Finance) Mian Waheed said he could not say how much the required vehicles would cost, but added that the city government was not short of funds. “The machinery which the CDGL has to purchase is not local. It is very hard to predict the price until the financial tenders are opened,” he said.

DCO Ahad Cheema said that the city government would use the trucks and tractors of the Water and Sanitation Agency and Solid Waste Management for the anti-encroachment operation. The new vehicles would still be bought, he said, and used in future operations.

MPA meetings

Ahead of the encroachment removal operations, town and city officials are arranging meetings with traders and city MPAs. The latter are meant to convince the businesses in their constituencies to cooperate in the campaign and give up their encroachments.

Officials said another reason for the delay was that it was proving difficult to get the MPAs to attend these meetings, because being associated with the operation would only lose them votes. A Data Ganj Bakhsh Town official estimated that the MPAs had turned up for about 20 per cent of scheduled meetings.

“This is the most congested town. There is always political pressure when we conduct encroachment removal campaigns in the markets. Many politicians are not happy with the campaign because they know that this operation will hurt the vote bank of the party,” said the official.

Cheema denied that MPAs were not cooperating and said that meetings were being held regularly with MPAs and businesses. “I am not facing any political pressure, nor would I accept any during this campaign,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2011.