Haripur court orders removal of ‘sasta bazaar’
PHOTO: FILE
A consumer court has ordered the Haripur deputy commissioner to vacate a part of the playground of the Regional Professional Development Centre and remove the stalls set up there for a Sasta Bazaar [thrift market].
Sources said Consumer Court Sessions Judge Munira Abbasi directed the deputy commissioner on Tuesday that a part of the playground of Regional Professional Development Centre Haripur should be vacated within a week and the stalls set up there by making the place a Sasta Bazaar with the permission of tehsil municipal administration and the district administration should be removed within a week.
Advocate Aziz Ahmad Khan, the counsel for the Regional Professional Development Center, told The Express Tribune that the playground, which is called the Teacher's Training School, was converted into a Sasta Bazaar by the district administration by setting up 12 stalls in October 2020 and had illegally occupied this part of the playground, which were later converted into bakers (naan bai) shops.
“Later, these were converted into proper shops, built with iron sheets and pipes,” he said and added that despite repeated requests, the district administration failed to clean the playground of the shops, due to which the sports activities of RPDC students and nearby youth came to a standstill.
The consumer court judge while hearing the public grievances on the matter asked the assistant director of the Consumer Protection Council (CPC), Haripur to submit a detailed report. Khan said, the CPC official held meetings with the officials of the district administration, TMA and RPDC and reviewed the records.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 23rd, 2022.