Cursory action taken by anti-encroachment squad raises eyebrows

Aurangabad, Oct 20:

The roadshow of the anti-encroachment squad of Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) under the aegis of removing encroachment existing on Kranti Chowk to City Chowk road raised eyebrows of many and was talk of the town. Overlooking major encroachment, the squad preferred cursory action by removing selected few only. Ironically, the civic team reached to take action at one place but left the spot in three minutes. Later on, they again came to the same place in the afternoon to take complete action.

There would be more than 2,000 street vendors, hawkers on the road from Kranti Chowk to City Chowk, apart from Kumbharwada, Gulmandi, Gomtesh Market and Aurangpura Daily Market. As a result, the big showroom owners or shopkeepers who are paying huge rent complained of facing losses and trouble due to hawkers and vendors in front of their shops. The Zilla Vyapari Mahasangh had also requested the AMC to take necessary action in this regard. Besides, the traffic police had also insisted that the AMC should take action in this regard. Meanwhile, the public representatives had also informed the civic officials for action.

Today at 11.30 am, the squad reached Kranti Chowk. They started removing encroachments which were seen on the spot. With the lightning speed, the squad reached Gulmandi via Paithan Gate. For name''s sake, the officials took action against a couple of street vendors and left.

The AMC has 300 square feet of land near Hingolika Mata temple in Rangar Galli. The civic personnel gave warnings to the cloth merchants and others who had encroached the land. The officials winded up the action in three minutes. In the afternoon, they again arrived at Rangar Galli and showed as if they were taking action and then left the place. The AMC squad also seized three tea-kiosks from Mill Corner area.

The heritage gates in the city are being maintained from the Smart City fund. As a result, the AMC administrator A K Pandey had ordered to remove encroachments existing around the gates. Hence the additional commissioner R P Nikam and acting assistant director of town planning Jayant Kharwadkar inspected the encroachments around the heritage gates.

The AMC officials said that it would remove encroachment existing around Jaffar Gate, Barapulla Gate, Naubat Darwaza and Kala Darwaza, soon. Meanwhile, the AMC has also geared up to file police complaints against persons who had encroached upon the land by preparing bogus PR Cards, it is learnt.