ISLAMABAD, Nov 18: The encroachers are back with vengeance and have once again started occupying well camouflaged spots in the green belts, on footpaths and verandas in the busy city shopping centres, causing all kinds of problems for the people.

Over the last less than one week, the encroachers have beaten up and humiliated the staff of the directorate of municipal administration (DMA) of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) twice and it was with a lot of effort that a serious law and order situation was prevented.

In a latest incident, which occurred on Monday in G-9 Markaz (Karachi Company), the encroachers beaten up the DMA staff and made them run when they first tried to remove the encroachments. But, later the DMA staff prevailed when they came ‘well-prepared’ and with a lot of reinforcement and managed to remove the encroachments.

In an earlier incident, three of the DMA staffers and some employees of an encroacher suffered serious burn injuries when a big cauldron, full of hot oil, slipped and boiling oil splashed. Three of the DMA staffers lost quite a portion of skin from their bodies.

But, the most unfortunate aspect of such incidents is that the encroachers manage to prevail over the DMA and even if the DMA staff manages to confiscate their items, they somehow get those things released within the next 24 hours and return to their business.

This aspect on one hand serves as a morale-booster for the encroachers and on the other it demoralises the DMA staff, who don’t feel so enthusiastic while conducting a similar operation in the same vicinity a second time.

It is being widely said in the city bazaars and shopping centres that the encroachers, who enjoy full support of various trader organisations and market committees, are much more powerful than the DMA.

It is also an interesting angle in the whole situation that most of these encroachers are the low-grade government employees, who work overtime after office hours to earn something to supplement their meagre incomes. These government employees always manage to find a connection or two to get away from the grasp of the DMA staff whenever they launch such an anti- encroachment operation.

The lower staff in the DMA, which is visibly dejected and disinterested in their job, is not reluctant to express their lack of interest in discharging their duties as they allege that they are invariably abandoned by their superiors after each such operation.

“We risk our lives and limbs in such operation because these encroachers are desperate and they are more powerful because they are backed by the trader organizations. They attack us violently and are not afraid of picking up serious fights with us whenever we try to confiscate their material. On the other hand our officers almost always abandon us and return their stuff, in most of the cases within 24 hours. So, why should we take such a serious risk,” said the DMA employees.

The fact that such operations are not being headed by any senior official like the director municipal administration or his deputy themselves, also demoralises the lower staff because the inspectors or the supervisors are not eager to take any decisions at their own in such actions and prefer to pull back in face of any resistance and wait for fresh orders back from the office.

Now, with the holy month of Ramazan in progress the encroachers have become even more outrageous and seem to be too eager to pick up a brawl with anybody, who may raise any objection against their illegal practice.

And the situation is likely to turn even worse with Eid approaching when hundreds of new stalls are likely to spring up in these bazaars and shopping centres all over the city.

This extraordinary rush and establishment of temporary stalls in these bazaars are not only a source of concern for the residents from the point of view of discomfort or inconvenience caused to them but those will also become a serious security risk amidst the prevailing situation.