600 fined for encroachments

Under grand anti-encroachment drive launched in Rawal Town, special raids are being conducted in city markets to remove all types of encroachments, while over 100 trucks loaded with goods with 1,600 tyres were confiscated during the last three months, said Rawalpindi Town Administrator Saif Anwar Jappa.
Talking to APP he said that during the period as many as 600 encroachers were fined Rs 600,000. Daily raids against encroachers are conducted. Several trucks loaded with goods are confiscated and deposited in the TMA store, he said.
He said, the grand clean-up operation against encroachments is underway in the city and special instructions have been issued to accelerate it. Special teams under the supervision of Town Officer Regulation are regularly conducting raids at main markets of the town including Raja Bazaar, Liaquat Road, Benazir Bhutto road, Gunjmandi, Jamia Masjid Road, Commercial Market, Sadiqabad and other areas. The vendors who are found selling their products while displaying on footpaths and different city roads are imposed fines with warnings, he said.
He informed that so far during this season as many as 1600 tyres were also confiscated from different city markets under our efforts to fight against dengue. He said the tyres are being confiscated as the city district government had strictly warned the shopkeepers that tyres, new and old, should be properly packed and covered which will help reduce the risk of the dengue spreading.
The anti-encroachment operation with campaign to check tyre shops has been accelerated in the city. The operation to check unpacked tyres is being carried out in various city markets. He said that the shopkeepers have been requested to cooperate with the TMA staff and take preventive measures to deal with the killer disease.
He said that strict action in accordance with the rules is being taken against those violating the orders. Saif Anwar Jappa said that during March, the encroachers were imposed fines amounting to over Rs 190,000 while as many as 35 truckloads goods were confiscated.
He informed that all out efforts are being made to control the problem. A new strategy to cope with the situation has been evolved. Beat system instead of old sector system was introduced to remove the encroachments from all the areas which is effectively working.
1.2 m saplings to be planted: DCO: Under plantation campaign 2012, over 1.2 million saplings will be planted in District Rawalpindi out of which 8,00,000 saplings of different species will be sown in forests while various government organizations will plant 175,000 saplings.
District Coordination Officer (DCO) Saqib Zafar said this. He informed that a special committee headed by him with members, EDO Agriculture and Divisional Forest Officer has been constituted by the Punjab government.
The Spring Tree Plantation Campaign 2012 has been kicked off in Rawalpindi district in which over 1.2 million saplings of different species would be planted with the assistance of different institutions in a bid to make the district lush green. He said that all out efforts would be made to achieve the target and planting stocks are being sent to all stakeholders including government departments, farmers, NGOs and general public to achieve the said target.
The saplings of different species would be sown during the campaign in the district to offset the dangerous effects of challenges of climatic change and global warming.175,000 saplings would be planted with the help of different institutions and other stakeholders.
As many as 240,000 saplings would be grown by the farmers and general public. The services of all the stakeholders are being utilized to bring maximum areas under forest and vegetative cover in the district to combat desertification, global warming and climate change issue that are posing great threats to environment, he added. As many as 25,000 saplings would be planted in different defence departments. 240,000 different varieties’ sapling at nominal rates would also be provided to the farmers for which 21 special sale points have been set up in all tehsils of the district.