The district government on Wednesday issued notices to 200 shopkeepers in Hussain Agahi Market for returning to keeping their goods in front of their shops after the area was cleaned in the ongoing anti-encroachment drive. All items in front of their shops were confiscated.
District Coordination Officer Zahid Saleem Gondal directed district officials to confiscate any goods and commodities that were placed on pavements and roads outside the shops.
Talking to The Express Tribune, the DCO said that the 120-foot wide road had been restricted to 20-30 feet due to the encroachments. He said the road had been completely cleared from encroachments.
He said the Hussain Agaahi was the biggest market in the district. There are over 15,000 shops in the market. A comprehensive encroachment drive had been pending for over three decades. The DCO, also the acting commissioner of Multan division, said he would personally monitor all drives. The operation that began on Monday, has been led by administration of all four municipal towns in the city. As many as 300 police personnel have been assigned the duty to accompany teams during the campaign. The campaign is being supervised by Assistant Commissioner Muhammad Ashfaqullah.
A district government spokesman said that there had been over 1,100 encroachments on the market. Of these, he said, 800 encroachments had been on the service lanes. They had all been demolished or removed.
Ashfaqullah told The Express Tribune that the operation would continue for a week with intervals for monitoring. He said shopkeepers whose shops had been damaged in the drive would be rehabilitated. He said the district government was also working on a plan to improve security and protection against extortionists and robbers.
The DCO said that the rights of the shopkeepers would not be violated or forgotten. He said claims of stay order or title would not be accepted without documents.
The DCO also ordered the officials concerned to check standard and condition of the market after the operation. A weekly report will be submitted to the DCO.
The Hussain Agaghi traders and business community said they were satisfied with the operation, which they said, had been fair.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 23rd, 2014.