The Indian Express                01.05.2013

Finally, MC smacks a six after six flops

The Ludhiana Municipal Corporation finally achieved some success on Tuesday, after six consecutive 'fiascos', with the demolition drives conducted in Sabun Bazaar, Brown Road and Jail Road (Field Ganj).

Having faced severe criticism after cancelling six demolition drives, succumbing to alleged political pressure, the civic body finally came back after demolishing 11 illegal structures on Tuesday.

Of the demolished structures, seven were in Sabun Bazaar, two on Brown Road and two on Jail Road. The buildings were reportedly owned by influential people, who refused to get their structures demolished in 2009-10.

"We had to face extreme resistance from people, who even turned to violent. But, the police brought the situation under control, and we managed to accomplish our target," said Kamaljeet Kaur, assistant town planner, Zone A, who led the drive.

Contrary to the previous six drives where around 150 police personnel accompanied the MC team and the drives were cancelled, on Tuesday, only 20 MC officials, 15 personnel from the city police and 15 from ladies police were successful in conducting the drive. This has certainly raised eyebrows on why the previous drives with a large number of police officials were unsuccessful.

"Despite the less number of police officials and pressure from people, we were determined to not return empty handed. People questioned us why they could not be spared if no action was being taken against illegal building in Gur Mandi. Police had to adopt extreme measures to control the crowd," Kaur added.

MC demolished the structures that had reportedly encroached upon public space by 2 to 2.5 ft.

The next drive is slated for May 8 in Barewal. In March and April, the civic body had cancelled drives in Pavitar Nagar, Gur Mandi, Talaab Bazaar, Haibowal, Salem Tabri and Indira Nagar.