LAHORE: The Punjab Enforcement Regulatory Authority (Pera) is allegedly involved in harassing the shopkeepers in the city on the pretext of encroachments and other civic issues, drawing criticism of the businesses against the force mandated to ensure removal of encroachments, control prices, curbing hoarding, retrieving public land and enforcing laws, rules and regulations.

There are allegations that at various places, the Pera force officials are even involved in extorting money from the pushcart vendors.

The situation seems disturbing in Lahore as the Pera force officials working under the sub-divisional enforcement officers (SDEOs) and assistant commissioners at tehsil level are even threatening those who have left empty space on their front within their property area for their business use, Dawn has learnt.

“We are really in great trouble since Pera force started taking rounds of the bazaar. Though we have left some space on front of our shop for displaying goods, the Pera officials continue to misbehave and threaten us not to use this space, which is our property. Since other shopkeepers continue to use full space of their commercial properties, why Pera officials have become personal with us in this regard,” deplores a shopkeeper of Pul Bandianwala Bazaar in the area of Chungi Amar Sadhu.

Spox rejects allegations, claims the authority has made Lahore encroachment-free

“We filed a complaint to Model Town assistant commissioner to take action but to no avail as the teams continue to misbehave with us in front of customers.”

According to another vendor, the Pera officials have also started extorting money from the pushcart vendors in the bazaar along a major drain in Amar Sadhu.

“All such vendors have placed their pushcarts in the middle of the road. Here the Pera officials are taking no action because they receive bribes from the vendors through their representatives,” he says, appealing to Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz to intervene and take action against the black sheep in Pera.

There are various other markets including Moon Market and Karim Block Market in Iqbal Town, G-1 Market in Johar Town, Township, Ravi Bazaar, Mall Road, Karim Park Market, Ravi Road and Garhi Shahu where the vendors complain about harassment and corruption on the part of Pera.

“I can give you many examples in Karim Park Bazaar (Ravi Road) where the Pera official are extorting money on the pretext of fines. If these are fines, they should give receipts. But they are not giving receipts and looting the shopkeepers.”

The All Pakistan Anjuman Tajiran—a pro-PML-N government body—has also expressed grave concerns at the rising complaints against Pera force and termed it a failure of the government to control the recently formed authority in Punjab.

“There are a lot of complaints related to corruption, harassment, threats, misbehaviour on the part of Pera in Lahore in particular and Punjab in general. Sometime ago, a couple of traders in Shahdara also died of electrocution while they, under pressure from Pera, were removing their shops’ signboards and installing new. But where should we go for complaints as there is nobody to listen to us in our own government, for which we not only sacrificed our businesses but also wasted precious time to listen,” APAT Secretary General Naeem Mir criticised while lashing out at the Punjab government.

“Our government has even left me with no option but to hide myself from vendors who continue to search me for many days for the purpose of contacting the government and resolving the issues,” he deplored, terming the government as running Punjab like dictators.

To a question, he says the government is not ready even to listen to or respond to him and traders’ bodies on various issues the traders are facing.

“I am really disappointed due to such a bad attitude of the government. This is forcing me to go into a self-imposed retirement,” he mourns, urging the government to control Pera and other departments that are making the businesses tough.

When contacted, a spokesperson for Pera has dispelled the impression, terming the force an authority that has made Lahore encroachment-free. He admits some problems on the part of some officials as exposed in some videos shared on social media.

“Look, we don’t carry out encroachment operations on our own as these are planned by the ACs in respective tehsils,” the spokesman says while talking to this reporter.

When told about the complaints, he says the Pera management had received only one complaint when a video of some Pera officials in Karim Block (Iqbal Town) market was shared.

“At this, we took immediate action.” He says those having any complaints against Pera can contact the Pera management directly.

Lahore DC and Model Town AC were not available for comments when contacted.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2025