PESHAWAR, Jan 2: The Cantonment Board authorities have failed to correct the telephone, gas and electricity lines, as had been promised with the shopkeepers at the time of launching of an anti-encroachment drive in Saddar Bazaar, many shopkeepers told Dawn.

The Cantonment Board officials launched an anti-encroachment drive in the area in July last year. The authorities claimed that they were going to remove the illegal structures, which the shopkeepers had permanently encroached upon over the last 55 years. It had also been argued that the basic objective of the drive was to widen the roads and correct the faulty telephone, gas and electricity lines.

“There is no work by the authorities to correct the telephone and electricity system, because the poles still stand in the middle of the road, which disturb the smooth flow of traffic,” said an office-bearer of the Markazi Tanzeem Tajraan Rabita Committee, Peshawar Cant.

According to him, the purpose of the drive is yet to be achieved as the drainage system was repaired by the shopkeepers themselves.

Nonetheless, he said, the authorities had also promised to repair the drainage system affected by the campaign, but the shopkeepers were forced to do the same themselves.

In July last year, the government started anti-encroachment drive in Saddar Bazaar, Saddar Road and other lanes and the shopkeepers were asked to surrender four feet each of their structures to the Cantonment Board. A delegation of the shopkeepers also met NWFP Governor Iftikhar Hussain Shah to get the drive postponed but he, instead, asked the stake-holders to cooperate with the officials.

Later, the officials also asked them to deposit composition tax on the terraces above their shops. The shopkeepers paid Rs650 per foot as composition tax, whereas the residential houses were required to pay the same tax at the rate of Rs300 per foot.

The Cant area houses some Rs3,000 shops and 1,000 residential houses, many of them are tiny and could only cater to the needs of two people. An amount of about Rs10 million had already been deposited by the shopkeepers as composition tax.

“I have got a small one-room house above my shop, where I live along with my wife and son. The authorities have served me with a notice to deposit Rs5,000 as composition tax for the terrace above it, which we had made to prevent the rain water from coming inside,” said Raees Khan, adding that he did not have the money to deposit, so he would let the officials to demolish the terrace.

Another shop-owner said he had been paying a “huge sum” to the board as temporary ground rent (TGR). But the demolition of shops was started without caring for the TGR agreement. The Board officials, however, argued that the same could be terminated on a 24-hour notice in case the land was required by the government.

The shopkeepers are of the view that they had already incurred losses to the tune of millions from the drive. Some 15 opticians shops were demolished completely on Main Saddar Road. And the affected opticians were asked to deposit Rs700,000 each to get their shops established again. Similarly, 15 cabins were demolished with the promise that they would be re-constructed after the drive. That promise has also not been kept.

They say no such drive was launched by the Canton-ment Boards elsewhere in the country.