PESHAWAR: At least 22 shops and portions of four filling stations were demolished in a major action against encroachments amid tight security in parts of the provincial metropolis on Thursday.

The crackdown was conducted at Ring Road where illegal structures beside the Parco, PSO, Shell petrol and Hayat CNG filling stations were removed through heavy machinery when the owners declined to remove them by themselves.

In addition, 22 illegally constructed shops were also demolished in the area. A spokesman for the administration, Sajid Khan, told Dawn that all the shops were constructed in violation of bylaws. He said that heavy contingents of police had been deployed in the area to control situation in case of any untoward incident. “No one resisted the operation because they had illegally occupied portions of the main road,” he said. Mr Sajid said that AC Mumtaz Ahmed, PDA director Khan Afzal Afridi and Town-III officials were present on the occasion.

Additional deputy commissioner Osama Ahmed told reporters that the district administration had launched the operation against encroachments across the board.