HYDERABAD, Dec 31: District Nazim Dr Makhdoom Rafiquzzaman has asked the City taluka municipal administration to prepare a strategy in consultation with stakeholders to remove encroachments and cattle pens from city areas.

Presiding over a meeting at his office here on Wednesday regarding shifting of cattle pens to Cattle Colony on the Tando Mohammad Khan Road and removing encroachments from streets, roads and business centres of the city, the Nazim said encroachments and cattle pens were not only causing interruption in the smooth traffic flow and difficulties for pedestrians but also creating unhygienic conditions in the city.

He said an operation was needed to remove encroachments and rehabilitate the people thus affected. He also asked the TMA and other agencies concerned to ensure all facilities at Cattle Colony before launching the campaign to shift cattle pens.

Dr Rafiquzzaman said some portions on roads and business centres would be earmarked only for pushcart owners to bring them under discipline. City taluka Nazim Moinuddin Shaikh said the presence of cattle pens, menace of encroachments and disorganized traffic flow had created difficulties for residents and hindrances in executing development work.

He said instead of paying parking fee to the TMA, rickshaw, taxi and Suzuki owners were paying the fee to illegal private unions and the police deployed at various parking areas and routes in the city.

The district Nazim directed police authorities to inquire into the matter and regularize the parking fee to the TMAs concerned. He also assured the district's TMAs of support in their campaign to remove encroachments and cattle pens from residential and business areas.

HOSTEL: District Nazim Dr Makhdoom Rafiquzzaman, while presiding over a meeting here on Wednesday to review the construction work of a girls' hostel of the Public School, directed the project engineer to complete the scheme by the end of February.