BAJAUR: Traders in Khar Bazaar, the largest commercial centre of Bajaur district, on Sunday began voluntarily removing encroachments after the authorities warned of a massive crackdown on structures built on public land.
The shopkeepers started dismantling the encroachments a day after a joint team of the district administration and the Pakhtunkhwa Highways Authority (PKHA) inspected the bazaar and demarcated shops and other structures falling within the encroached areas.
Sources told Dawn that following the demarcation of illegal structures by the PKHA team, representatives of the Khar Traders Association held an emergency meeting chaired by its president, Wajid Ali Shah, and decided that shopkeepers would remove the encroachments themselves to avoid administrative action.
They said the association’s leaders had also conveyed their decision to the district administration, which agreed to the voluntary removal and directed that the encroachments be cleared at the earliest.
During a visit to Khar Bazaar, the district’s headquarters and main business hub, which has around 5,000 shops, this correspondent saw several traders removing encroach-ments along public roads and dismantling unauthorised extensions on the upper floors of their shops.
Representatives of the Khar Traders Association said the drive was under way and was expected to be completed within two days. They added that most shopkeepers were carrying out the work after evening.
Meanwhile, the district administration on Sunday expressed satisfaction over the voluntary antiencroachment drive launched bytraders in Khar Bazaar.
According to a statement issued by the deputy commissioner’s office, a team of district administration officials, including DSP Khar Circle Saidur Rehman, visited the bazaar to review the progress of the voluntary removal of encroachments.
The statement said the visiting officials expressed satisfaction with the progress and appreciated the shopkeepers for voluntarily removing the illegal structures.