Encroached space: Authorities begin Zarbat Plaza’s demolition

ABBOTABAD:

Municipal authorities on Friday started demolishing the extended portion of Zarbat Plaza on the city’s Mall Road after the owner refused to do so voluntarily. As part of ongoing anti-encroachment operations, authorities demolished the illegal portions of the plaza.

Assistant Commissioner Osama Ahmed Warraich, who was monitoring the operation, said all structures falling within 35 feet from the centre of the main road will be demolished for which encroachers have already been served notices.

Warraich said the plaza owner had promised to remove the encroached portion on his own a week ago but had not done so. The plaza houses shops and offices and was said to have been encroaching about 10 to 12 feet of public land.

Meanwhile, plaza owner Zarbat Khan said he constructed the building in 1977 when Mall Road was a single carriage way and the building was declared legal at the time. He asked the government to pay him Rs35.34 million for vacating the plaza altogether.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2014.