PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has again directed the provincial government, the Peshawar Cantonment Board and other authorities to respond to a petition against encroachments on several major roads of the cantonment area here.

A bench consisting of Justice Syed Mohammad Attique Shah and Justice Syed Arshad Ali directed respondents to file their respective response to the petition of local resident Shaukatullah Shah in the next seven days.

The petitioner has sought orders for the respondents, including provincial chief secretary, Peshawar commissioner and deputy commissioner, cantonment board executive officer and other officials, to demolish encroachments on government property, including roads.

The petitioner has requested the court to declare car parking on government property, especially on Fakhre Alam Road, Kalabari Road and Saddar Road in Peshawar cantonment area, illegal.

Peshawar Cantt resident complains of illegal roadside structures

Counsel for the petitioner, Bashir Khan Wazir, said that last month, the court had issued notices to the respondents seeking their response to the petition, but the latter had yet to comply with the orders.

Assistant advocate general Barrister Yaseen Raza appeared for the provincial government.

The petitioner’s counsel said that his client was a senior citizen and retired as a BPS-17 officer of the communication and works department.

He said that shopkeepers had encroached on government property in Peshawar’s cantonment area, including roads, without hindrance from authorities.

The lawyer pointed out that the shopkeepers had illegally occupied government property on the Fakhre Alam Road and Kalabari Road.

He said that his client had specifically visited these areas and requested the shopkeepers to remove their encroachments from roads but some of them had threatened the petitioner with dire consequences over his anti-encroachment efforts.

Mr Wazir said that the residents of those areas as well as motorists and pedestrians struggled to move around due to those encroachments.

He said that it was the responsibility of the cantonment board to look into the matter, remove those illegal structures, and fine encroachers.

The lawyer, however, said that authorities had turned a blind eye to illegal structures.

He said that several rent-a-car companies operating in those areas had occupied roads and spaces to park vehicles.

Mr Wazir said that the respondents should deploy lifters in those areas for removing encroachments from roads and streets on a daily basis.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2023