HARIPUR, Feb 12: The tehsil municipal administration (TMA) has decided to launch anti-encroachment drive. Official sources said on Thursday that the campaign would begin next month.

Tehsil Nazim Iftikhar Ahmad Khan has reportedly got marked the encroached space of cemented structure in the city bazaars. The sources said that the TMA staff had marked a total of 167 shops in Mochi bazaar, Rehmania Road, Saen Sehaili road and Loharan bazaar.

Out of them 88 shops are the property of TMA, while 79 are owned by private owners and are constructed in violation of city's map of 1903 during the last three decades.

The sources said that 88 shops would be completely demolished, while the other 79 would be partially razed as the owners had encroached 3 to 7 feet and in certain cases over 30 feet of public space had been occupied.

It was reported that the measurement of shops and marking of encroached space in the main bazaar, GPO road and other parts, where the private owners occupied TMA's land, was deferred to the second phase after successful completion of first phase which was to be started on Feb 15, but reportedly delayed due to Muharram.

The process of issuing notices would begin within a few days, the sources claimed. Traders' associations, including Haripur Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI) have critcized the TMA drive and demanded that the casual encroachments like handcarts and cabins be removed from the city area particularly from GPO road and Rae Aama road, before taking a big leap.

HCCI chief Tehseenul Haq accused the TMA for causing congestion by allowing handcart owners to encroach the land near the Pilot Girls School and adjoining roads. The TMA had allotted licenses to over 150 handcart and cabin owners for setting up their business on GPO and Rae Aama roads two months back.