RAWALPINDI: The local administration has postponed its anti-encroachment campaign for a few days due to security reasons.

A senior official of the district administration told Dawn that due to the prevailing situation policemen had been deployed for the security of main civil installations, markets and checkposts. As a result, the drive has been postponed, he added.

The anti-encroachment drive had been launched in the city on the directives of Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench. However, as the drive was stopped, stallholders returned to bazaars and choked the traffic again.

A few weeks ago, Deputy Commissioner Talat Mehmood Gondal had formed a team, comprising Additional Deputy Commissioner Revenue Arif Rahim, Assistant Commissioner Khalid Gorraya and Hasan Ranjha and Chief Corporation Officer RMC Sardar Tashfeen.

The senior official said it would be difficult to remove the encroachments without police as whenever the officials went to bazaars more than 100 people gathered to resist the drive.

He said the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) was facing a shortage of staff for the campaign. “There are total 16 officials for the anti-encroachment drive in four sectors in the city. They also need protection from police during the drive. Last week, stallholders and shopkeepers forced the RMC staff to flee from a bazaar,” he said.

But an official of the RMC added that the security concern was not the main reason for postponing the drive. He said most of the traders belonged to the PML-N local chapter and they forced the postponement of the drive.

“Clashes erupted at City Saddar Road when the administration asked the traders to vacate the walking verandas within three days,” he said.

“Early this month, the team planned to launch a drive at Circular Road but the same day former MNA Hanif Abbasi was invited by the local shopkeepers to the area and the administration had to end the drive,” he said.

On the other hand, local politicians and members of the provincial assembly termed the decision illogical and said it showed the negligence of the administration.

PTI MPA Arif Abbasi told Dawn that the encroachments by shopkeepers and stallholders in the commercial hub of Raja Bazaar was the real security threat as it created hurdles on the roads. “The PML-N is not interested in removing the stallholders and shopkeepers from the encroached areas as the local leaders are getting bribe from them,” Arif Abbasi alleged.

He said the Punjab government had failed to improve the governance system in the province, especially in Rawalpindi, and was working on different projects only for publicity.

“The Punjab government is spending Rs2.4 million per day on the subsidy of Metro Bus Service between Rawalpindi and Islamabad while only Rs5 million were spent on the installation of tubewells. If the government spends only two days’ subsidy on the tubewells, the citizens will be getting water in a few days,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2017