Row over encroachments ends in agreement

Under the agreement signed by the district administration and the representatives of shopkeepers of the Chitral bazaar, the administration accepted the ownership of the traders on the four or so feet land in front of their shops down to the water drain on either side of the road. On the other hand, the shopkeepers agreed to remove all the encroachments made in the shape of structures or gates on the four-foot area in order to facilitate public movement. The deputy commissioner, Osama Ahmad Waraich, asked the owners to start removing the illegal structures from today, which most of the traders did on Wednesday. In the morning, the traders started their strike for the second day and some of them were seen wearing symbolic shrouds to resist the administration’s plan to demolish the illegal shops forcibly. https://twitter.com/DC_Chitral/status/682142919076229120 Earlier in the day, the district administration removed illegal structures built along the road in the Ataliq Bazaar and widened the road by up to 10 feet. The traders consented to provide space for widening of the road and to remove their structures voluntarily as marked by the revenue department on both sides of the roads of Shahi bazaar and New bazaar areas. A press statement said the district administration agreed to the contention of the traders community that the shopkeepers would retain the ownership of the land which was being added to the road after removal of their structures and the government would pay them due compensation when it was annexed to the road in any later stage. It was also agreed on the part of traders community that they would not hinder the anti-encroachment drive launched by the district administration in any part of the city based on records of the revenue department. Deputy commissioner Chitral Osama Ahmed Warraich, AAC Abdul Akram, ACC Syed Mazhar Ali Shah signed from the government side while president of Tajir Union, Habib Hussain Mughal, Joint Secretary Fazal Wahid and Advocate Zafar Hayat inked the agreement on behalf of the union. District nazim Maghfirat Shah, former tehsil Chitral nazim Sartaj Ahmad signed as guarantors of the agreement. It was also decided that an awareness walk would be taken out through the roads of the city on Thursday. ]]>