KOHAT: The local residents have accused the tehsil municipal administration of allowing the traders to occupy the footpaths in front of their outlets in the busy Kutchery Chowk to the inconvenience of the pedestrians.

They claimed that the business community had been blackmailing the TMA by warning of shutter down strikes to keep the encroachments intact because they earned monthlies from the stallholders.

They said the footpaths had been used for placing photo state machines, paint cans, parking of motorcycles and home utensils.

Similarly, they said that in the main and Miankhel ladies bazaars the shopkeepers had allowed stalls in front of their shops, and pedestrians faced immense difficulty in walking. They pointed out that despite launching of scores of operations over the past years in the bazaars and smashing of the extended shops on the roads by the administration the businessmen had been violating the anti-encroachment laws with impunity.

Recently, they recalled that assistant commissioner, Furqan Ashraf, was manhandled and insulted by the president of the bazaar union, Abid Khan, and additional secretary general Asghar Ayub Paracha.

A few years ago, they said former assistant commissioner Ali Asghar, who launched a campaign against encroachments, was slapped by a businessman in the main bazaar.

Zulfiqar Shah, the owner of a photo state machine, confirmed that about three feet portion of the footpaths had been included into the shops under an agreement with the tehsil municipal administration.

Meanwhile, talking to Dawn, former governor Lt-Gen retired Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah said when the government implemented its writ seriously nobody could violate the laws. He said the shopkeepers taking advantage of the lenient attitude of the administration had occupied the footpaths and roads. He said the reported agreement of the business community with the TMA to extend their shops up to three feet had no legal meaning.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2019