PESHAWAR: The district administration on Wednesday cleared a major section of the long-delayed Northern Bypass by demolishing encroachments and recovering a big tract of land.

The district administration demolished 32 shops and other structure which were illegally established on the encroached land.

During the anti-encroachment drive, the district administration retrieved 165-kanal land, which will pave the way to the completion of the northern bypass, according to a statement issued here.

Assistant Commissioner Rao Hashim said there would be no obstacle in the completion of the northern bypassnow, adding it would be completed soon.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Hashim said that the locals had also encroached upon 165-kanal agricultural land. “Now the completion of the northern bypass will take six months,” the assistant commissioner said.

He said package-1 of the northern bypass, which started from Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway, had already been completed while the encroachments were the main hurdle in the completion of the remaining portion of the road.

According to Peshawar Deputy Commissioner Shah Fahad, the operation against encroachments will continue indiscriminately in all areas of Peshawar and strict action will be taken against those building illegal structures.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2023