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MULTAN, Feb 17 (APP):Not long ago, encroachments were a norm, unpleasantly acceptable to citizens who would shrug off the idea of seeking officials’ intervention, believing even if removed these would reemerge the next day like the wild plants do in forests.
“But not anymore, this time officials mean business,” says a district government official adding administration is determined the way never witnessed before. And the best favor it extended to the ancient City of Saints, traditionally believed to be thriving for the last 5000 years on earth, is that it has made historical landmarks, monuments that were hidden behind encroachments, visible to tourists for the first time in decades.
Officials attribute the tougher stance of administration to strict orders issued by Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif to remove encroachments, keep the city clean through daily cleanliness operations, and improve city infrastructure with its beautification and public facilitation as top priority. Since then, commissioner Amir Kareem Khan and deputy commissioner Muhammad Ali Bukhari are personally monitoring the anti-encroachment operations at the troubled spots in Multan.
“The bazaars and markets in the city now look more spacious and cleaner,” says Amir Bashir, a tourist guide. Officials are carrying out anti-encroachment operations without any discrimination, encompassing even the most troubled spots, the walled city Multan being on top of the list. “I myself witnessed Nawab Ali Muhammad Khan Masjid, built in 1753 AD, after five decades when encroachments were removed,” Amir added. “The operation also unveiled many monuments I did not know earlier like Masjid Pongran, besides a Hindu temple at Thalla Shah Wali, and Jain Mandir at Choodi Sarai.”
And the historical Haram Gate is now visible even from a long distance from inside the walled city Bazaar, Amir said, adding the government was doing a wonderful job removing all the ugliness the encroachment had brought to the city. While most of the encroachments like makeshift wooden shops, over-head tarpaulins hiding the sky view and sheds have been removed, a few makeshift shops are still hiding the façade of Masjid Nawab Ali Muhammad Khan. An official said that the traders have sought some time to remove whatever the encroachments remain.
Areas notorious for the encroachment phenomenon included Clock Tower Chowk, Circular Road, Hussain Agahi, bustling markets in the walled city often thronged by people in hope for a cheaper bargain, Old Shujabad road, Gardezi market in Gulgasht Colony, Mumtazabad, foodgrain market, the main fruit and vegetables market etc.
Spokesman for deputy commissioner Muhammad Ali Bukhari told APP that district administration was on its toes matching the speed of its intervention with the swiftness of the encroachers, habitual of returning to their old business at the same place thinking no one was watching them. Chowk Bazaar is a market passing through which was always a challenge and one had to juggle its way through a rush of buyers. But it feels easy now, says a passerby.
Men with heavy machinery have been put in a ready mode to operate whenever they are ordered, DC Muhammad Ali Bukhari said, adding that special teams have been formed and anti-encroachment camps set up at important locations to trigger action or a repeat-exercise wherever situation goes wrong.
There is a schedule that ensures all big markets undergo operations every week to remove even an iota of possibility of resurgence of encroachment.
At the water works road near clock tower chowk, a ‘Rehri Bazaar’ was set up along the road to enable vendors continue business without troubling traffic flow. Old Shujabad road, a bustling business highway, has also witnessed a comprehensive cleanup operation. Abdul Hannan, a departmental store owner, and a citizen Daud Ahmad, commended the administration saying the trouble they used to face due to numerous handcarts occupying the road was no more. However, Muhammad Adil, a handcart vendor who sells fruit there, said that they should be provided with some alternate place to resume businesses. Officials said they were pondering over different ideas to accommodate the business that were removed during anti-encroachment operations, to some other suitable place on CM’s orders so that people continue to earn their livelihood.
Citizens including shopkeepers said that the ongoing anti-encroachment should become a permanent feature of governance and hoped encroachers would not be allowed to play ‘hide and seek’ like they had been doing in the past.