Anti-encroachment officials warned by SHC

It is alleged that municipal staff and police take bribes from businesses

HYDERABAD:

The removal of carts, cabins, power generators, materials being sold by shops, tables and chairs which are placed by certain businesses on roads and footpaths seems to be an uphill task for the officials in Hyderabad. At the hearing of the antiencroachment case at Sindh High Court in Hyderabad on Thursday, whose order was issued on Saturday, the municipal officials kept making lame excuses to justify their procrastination.

The bench comprising justice Iqbal Kalhoro and justice Adnan-ul-Karim Memon verbally warned the officials that supervision of the campaign will be handed over to the judicial officials if their performance continue to remain subpar. There are allegations that the municipal staff as well as the police collect bribe from the businesses which occupy roads and footpaths.

And against that bribe these squatters are offered continuous protection. The Deputy Commissioner Fuad Ghaffar Soomro conceded before the court that though the anti-encroachment drive continued, certain obstacles have not allowed them to fully implement the court's order. He delineated on the terms 'soft' and 'hard' encroachment, arguing that the local government and municipal authorities were solely responsible for removal of the former.

The soft encroachment refers to carts, cabins, power generators, materials, tables and chairs placed on road and footpaths, unauthorised parking of vehicles, dumping of construction material, among other things. The bench directed the DC and other officials to complete the drive in the city's central parts as a priority. In the next stage the district's peripheries and outskirts should be cleared from the squatters.

The bench noted that a lack of coordination still existed among the government departments engaged in the drive despite repeated court orders for better cooperation. The SSP Hyderabad was ordered to direct all the SHOs in the district to take action against the soft encroachment in their respective jurisdictions on a daily basis.