The Pioneer 08.09.2010
MCD begins drive to clear roadside encroachmentsPNS | Dehradun
The Municipal Corporation of Dehradun has once again started a drive to rid the city of unauthorised commercial encroachments on the roadsides. The removal of hundreds of commercial encroachments from the roadsides has had a positive effect on the regulation of traffic which is chronically choked due to encroachments.
Official sources, however, acknowledge that encroachments being removed by the MCD are a little more than the proverbial tip of the iceberg because at least 200 bigha area of land owned by the MCD is presently under encroachment.
The MCD has been undertaking campaigns on a periodic basis to remove roadside encroachments. Fruit and vegetable vendors either extending their shops on the footpath or those using carts and setting stalls constitute the major proportion of roadside encroachments in town. The MCD has demarcated 13 zones in different localities of town for such small vendors but vendors selling fruits and vegetables on the roadside have not been limited to these zones. Roadside encroachments cause major disruption in regulation of traffic and neutralise the efforts undertaken by the MCD for maintenance of civic sanitation.
With the start of this week, the MCD began an anti-encroachment campaign under which more than 100 commercial encroachments were removed from the roadside on the first day. MCD officials aver that this drive will continue and fruit and vegetable vendors will not be allowed to put up their stalls in places other than those included in the 13 designated zones in town.
Goods of vendors running their business in prohibited areas have been confiscated and vendors penalised but despite these measures, it is unlikely that these vendors will stop encroaching on the roadside.
A vendor said that with their financial resources, they cannot afford to trade in designated zones which are already occupied by other vendors. These vendors pay protection money to the police and MCD employees to trade but they say that they don't like being the cause of traffic congestion on city roads.
They complain that if authorities provide them adequate space, they would not be forced to encroach on roadside but political factors prevent these vendors from trading in a legitimate manner. Vendors allege that a larger area of the MCD land is encroached upon by larger unauthorised constructions compared to the area occupied by petty vendors. MCD officials acknowledge that at least 200 bigha land owned by the MCD is presently under encroachment.
