The Hindu 24.07.2009
Town Planning staff clear encroachments
Staff Reporter
| Municipal Commissioner leads from the front |
Cellars should be used for parking only: Sridhar
Three eateries in cellar asked to vacate
VISAKHAPATNAM: Cracking the whip on encroachers, Town Planning staff on Thursday removed several encroachments on the arterial Dwarakanagar-Gurudwara road.
Municipal Commissioner B. Sridhar, who personally supervised the drive, said that cellars must be used for parking and should be not be misused for commercial activity or as godowns.
He said shops would be seized if encroachments in the cellars and on the footpaths were not removed. Some shop owners volunteered to remove them. The Commissioner said removal of encroachments would not only lead to smooth movement of traffic but prevent accidents. In tune with the decision, officials got removed plywood partitioning and gate in the cellar of a big textile showroom. The management was told to use the cellar for in-house and customer parking and not to encroach upon the pavement. At another commercial complex, walls and shutters in the cellar were removed.
Three popular eateries at Dwarakanagar Junction being run in the cellar were asked to vacate. Seeing the unhygienic conditions and the dumping of left over food and other garbage at a dhaba there, Mr. Sridhar instructed the Chief Medical Officer (Health) to take action.
Officials got removed projection of shops, advertisement hoarding set up at shops as well as blockings erected by using gas-cutters.
Kiosks set up encroaching upon the road were removed.
Not using cellars for parking has been leading to traffic bottlenecks as vehicles are parked on the roadside. The situation is much worse at Daba Gardens in the stretch between Ambedkar Statue and P.E.N. School
Chief City Planner G.V. Raghu, ACP (Demolition) A. Srinivas and ACP Zone A. Lakshmana Rao participated.