PESHAWAR, April 29: Shopkeepers resorted to protest by closing down  their shops when Town-1 officials  reached  the Qissakhwani Bazaar on Tuesday morning to bulldoze their structures which the officials claim are illegal.

Shopkeepers gathered after they saw a bulldozer to remove the structures. They raised slogans against the government and Town-1 administration.

Haji  Hanif, Shaukat Khan and others alleged that  the government was harassing the business community by demolishing their terraces and structures without issuing prior notices. They prevented the officials to stop the operation.

They urged the government to stop the  Town-1 officials from demolishing their properties and vowed to put stiff resistance to the drive.

A large number of police accompanied the officials to cope with any untoward incident.

The situation, however, became normal when the City Nazim reached the spot. He held talks with the representatives of the angered shopkeepers. The strike was called off by the shopkeepers after being given assurance that justice would be done to them.

The Nazim told the shopkeepers’ leaders that another meeting of the stake-holders would discuss the issue on May 5.

Meanwhile, Town-1 Nazim, Haroon Bilour, told Dawn that a special committee headed by Naib Nazim, Haji Shaukat had been constituted with others councillors and the leaders of the shopkeepers, wherein the latter had agreed to surrender the illegally occupied state-owned territory. This, he said, had been decided eight months ago.

“Most of the traders were cooperating and the drive against land-encroachment would be extended to the entire city,” said Bilour.  According  to him, the drive was aimed  at  the beautification of the historical city and asked the shopkeepers to remove the illegal structures without any delay.

Meanwhile, many  shopkeepers  have started  removing of  structures voluntarily, whereas some opposed the move.