Municipal officials delay removal of encroachment

Removal of carts, cabins, power generators, shops’ merchandise, tables and chairs placed by businesses on roads and footpaths seems to be an impossible task for the officials in Hyderabad.

After removing the ‘hard’ encroachment including illegal building and portions from many parts of the city, the officials are apparently pretending that clearing the soft encroachment like pushcarts and kiosks is a far mightier task.

At the hearing of the anti-encroachment 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 Adnanul-Karim Memon verbally warned the officials that supervision of the campaign will be handed over to the judicial officials if their performance continued to remain subpar.

There are allegations that the municipal staff as well as the police collect bribe from the businesses which occupy the 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 antiencroachment 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, unauthorized 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, which are densely populated commercial areas, as a priority.

In the next stage the district’s peripheries and outskirts will 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. “All the concerned heads of the departments are directed to fully cooperate and liaise with the DC Hyderabad to make the operation successful.”

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The Hyderabad SSP was ordered to direct all the SHOs of the police stations in the district to take action against the soft encroachment in their respective jurisdictions on a daily basis.

“Soft encroachment they shall not allow at any cost.” The Additional DC Hyderabad Lal Dino Mangi complained before the court that the HMC and the local government department have executed leases of the amenity plots, play grounds and open areas in favour of the individuals.

“Whenever the district administration approaches these departments to provide the city’s master plan and other documents to identify encroached areas, they blatantly refuse to do it,” the additional DC remonstrated.

“For these reasons the anti-encroachment drive is not proceeding ahead and is not producing results.” The Sindh secretary local government did not appear before the bench. But he was represented by the Local Government Special Secretary Zubair Pervez who was directed to offer complete support to any department engaged in the campaign against squatters. Responding to Mangi’s complaint, the special secretary LG directed the municipal officials to provide all the required documents to the DC’s office.

He also asked the officials of Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), Hyderabad Development Authority (HDA) and deputy director LG department Hyderabad to cooperate with the DC.

The officials of Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (HMC) and Municipal Committee Qasimabad (MCQ) undertook to conduct operation against the soft encroachment on a daily basis. The court directed the officials to coordinate with the DC and inform him about the areas where any government property has been encroached.

The municipal commissioner of HMC Fakhir Shakir also assured the court that they have removed the soft encroachment from the city’s main motorcycle market in Khohkhar Mohalla. The market has blocked two main streets in the locality so much so that every the passerby people find it hard to move through those streets. Shakir further assured that the drive in the same area will continue.

The HMC’s MC complained that they required funds to carry on the drive but the same are not being provided. The court ordered the Sindh secretary finance to appear before the bench at the next date of hearing on December 23.