Drive: Cops to clear 28 roads of encroachments in 2nd phase

The Ludhiana police commissionerate initiated the second phase of its anti-encroachment drive on Saturday.

The police will cover 28 roads in the city in the second phase. These mainly include the road from Rekhi Cinema Chowk to Kesar Ganj Mandi; Jama Masjid to Shahpur Road; Gurdwara Kalgidhar Sahib to Subhani Building; Division Number 3 chowk to CMC chowk to Kalvari Church; Basti Jodhewal chowk to Sardar Nagar bridge to Valmiki Ghati; GT road to Daba to Lohara; Janta Nagar Chowk to Ittan Wala chowk, ATI Road; and main market Dehlon and Sahnewal road.

Besides, the road from Atam Nagar Chowk to canal in Dugri to police station; B7 chowk to Lalton chowk; Rajpura chowk to Partap Singh Wala chowk; Haibowal main market to Jassian road; Fountain chowk to Rose Garden chowk; Fountain chowk to Ghumar Mandi to Aarti chowk, municipal corporation Zone D canal bridge to E-block gurdwara; and Sarabha Nagar police station to senior citizen home will also be covered under the second phase.

Also, stretches of Ferozepur Road to Barewal and Agar Nagar, Jawahar Nagar Camp, and Gill chowk to canal bridge will be covered.

Police commissioner Rakesh Agrawal said, “We have been asking shopkeepers and cart-pullers to remove the encroachments from the roads and also issuing notices to them. The police have also made announcements in areas concerned to remove the encroachments by February 6, after which the police will register FIRs against the defaulters.”

Earlier in the first phase of the drive, the police had removed encroachments from 12 roads in the city, including those in Field Gunj and Chaura Bazar. The police had registered 50 FIRs against encroachers. Agrawal has already announced that the police will recommend cancellation of passports and arms licences, if any, of the encroachers.

Amid agitation raised by the roadside vendors over anti-encroachment drives being conducted by the police and municipal corporation (MC), mayor Balkar Sandhu on Saturday publicised the list of 100 sites proposed for establishing vending zones in the city.

The mayor said that the vendors can install their vends at the sites and the MC will not charge any fee till the time the vending zones are established at the sit. The sites will be developed after getting these notified from the state government, he said.