Come next week: Anti-encroachment drive to begin in Mansehra

District council to show no leniency to illegal occupants, says district council chief.

MANSEHRA: Following the provincial government’s directives to reclaim illegally occupied land, the Mansehra district administration has decided to launch an anti-encroachment drive, starting the week of Monday 17.

Initially, the Karakoram Highway will be cleared of illegal structures – both cement and temporary. During the second phase, encroachments from Gandhian to Battal Sharkol, along with those on the inner roads of Mansehra, will be demolished if the occupants fail to voluntarily remove them, shared an official source.

According to Mansehra District Council Chief Officer Ziauddin Khan, about 400 shops, plazas, petrol stations, private hospitals and hotels with extended portions have been marked alongside the Karakoram Highway, totalling 70 feet of land on both sides of the road. Ziaduddin said the occupants have been served notices, asking them to demolish these extensions and illegally constructed structures on government land within seven days. If this is not done, the district’s demolition squads can reclaim the land using heavy machinery.

The same occupants were also previously issued notices by the National Highway Authority, but they kept delaying the process, said Ziaduddin. However, he said, this time no leniency will be shown and the operation will be carried out without discrimination. A meeting of senior district officials gave the council a go-ahead for the anti-encroachment drive.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2014.