Encroachments Obstacle In Revival Of City's Beauty

Encroachments from city roads to interior city streets, including Nullah Leh, were major obstacles to reviving the heritage and improvement of Rawalpindi

RAWALPINDI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Oct, 2021 ) :Encroachments from city roads to interior city streets, including Nullah Leh, were major obstacles to reviving the heritage and improvement of Rawalpindi.

Due to lack of parking space, many markets of downtown areas were losing customers and distances of minutes were being covered in hours due to encroachments and traffic jams, said President Traders Welfare Association Punjab Sharjeel Mir here Thursday.

Talking to APP, Mir said that traders and commuters, especially women, were facing great difficulties during routine shopping, and it doubled over on celebratory shopping.

He said that wrong car parking was common even in the presence of traffic wardens, creating traffic jams and also causing accidents.

Mir urged the Metropolitan Corporation and traffic police to play their due role in removing the encroachment from the city's busiest roads and demanded the government devise a plan to shift wholesale markets from the city to the proposed ring road to ease traffic congestion.

When Contacted, Municipal Officer Regulations(MOR), Muhammad Imran said that a massive crackdown had been planned while the city has been divided into six sectors where each sector-in-charge would be responsible if there were any encroachment.

Imran said all stakeholders including local parliamentarians and traders were being taken on board to make the drive result-oriented.

"No political pressure will be borne in this regard." The MOR warned the encroachers to voluntarily remove their illegal stalls and clear the state land immediately; otherwise, not only their goods would be confiscated, but also FIRs would be registered against them, he added.