PESHAWAR: The district administration has decided to permanently remove encroachments from the Board Bazaar within 48 hours and seal the businesses allowing handcarts to park in front of their shops.

This decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Peshawar division commissioner Riaz Khan Mehsud, according to a statement issued here on Saturday.

Officials of the district administration, Peshawar Development Authority, traffic police, capital metropolitan government and president Board Bazaar Traders’ Association were also in attendance.

The statement said that Mr Mehsud directed the relevant officials to clear the congested area of encroachments within 48 hours.

Mr Mehsud also said he would visit the Board Bazaar on Monday to oversee the anti-encroachment operation.

It was agreed that the district administration would seal the businesses that allowed pushcarts to park in front of their shops, and their owners would be arrested.

Besides, the meeting also agreed to remove the encroachments from the railway track crossing through the Board Bazaar and install a fence along the track to prevent encroachments from resurfacing. In addition, the Board Bazaar Road would be repaired and opened to traffic.

It was also agreed that the traffic police and the city government officials would be deputed to the area on permanent basis to stop the encroachments from resurfacing.

Commissioner Mehsud told Dawn that Board Bazaar was the biggest and permanent traffic bottleneck in the city, which was refusing to be settled. He said that it was permanent scene of the traffic congestion despite repeated attempts by the authorities to ensure smooth flow of traffic.

Mr Mehsud said that he visited the site sometimes ago along with officials of the district administration and other relevant agencies. He said that when they arrived at the bazaar, most of vendors, doing business from pushcarts, fled the scene; however, the administration spoke to the traders and their representatives.

Mr Mehsud said that they informed the traders that the administration was committed to permanently resolving the issue of encroachments in the Board Bazaar. “We informed the traders the administration will take action against the shopkeeper, in front of whose shop, we find any cart parked,” he said. He said such shops would remain closed for about a month.

Mr Mehsud said that the traders had asked for some time to remove the pushcarts to a side, away from the road, and a meeting in this regard would take place next week.

Meanwhile, the district administration on Saturday arrested 77 traders and sealed 27 shops in a crackdown on encroachments in several parts of the city.

A statement issued from the deputy commissioner’s office stated that the crackdown was carried out in the Qissa Khawani Bazaar, Chowk Yadgar, Ghanta Ghar, Khyber Bazaar, Shoaba Chowk and other parts of the city following public complaints.

It said that three teams of the district administrations carried out the operation wherein they also confiscated goods placed outside the shops on footpaths and also fined vehicles for illegal parking.

In addition, several illegally built shops were also demolished.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2025