Cantt Board’s first woman magistrate leading anti-encroachment drive

PESHAWAR: Qurratul Ain Wazir, the first woman magistrate of Cantonment Board Peshawar, is leading the campaign for removing encroachments from the busy shopping centres after almost two decades and cracking down on profiteers.

Talking to The News, Qurratul Ain Wazir said that she had received a number of complaints about encroachments in the congested Shafi Market in Peshawar Saddar that is mostly frequented by the women for shopping.

She said she arranged a meeting with traders’ unions but they did not take her seriously. “I issued more than three notices to the shopkeepers to remove the encroachments, but they did not cooperate,” she recalled.

The official said that the Cantonment Board Peshawar had to launch anti-encroachment drive, adding, more than 400 kiosks and makeshift stalls were removed from the Shafi Market.

She said that previously shopkeepers accused of encroachment were fined Rs5,000, but she made efforts to raise the amount of fine through a law passed by the Cantonment Board Peshawar. She added that it was called CBR 3.

Qurratul Ain Wazir said a violator would have to pay from Rs25,000 to Rs0.1 million depending on the nature of the violation. She claimed more than Rs30 million were recovered from defaulters during three months.

“We paid visits to the slaughterhouse in the Peshawar Cantonment where the animals were slaughtered under unhygienic conditions. There was no veterinary surgeon to examine the animals,” she pointed out.

The official said that her teams raided dairy shops to check quality of dairy products. She said that some milk-sellers were fined for mixing water in the milk.

She said action would also be taken against the profiteers and the shopkeepers fleecing the customers. She added that action would be taken against shopkeepers who were not following the official price-list.

She said that the Cantonment Board would auction 12 parking lots to address the issue of parking. She warned that that action would also be taken against the hoteliers for overcharging customers.

Qurratul Ain Wazir belongs to Wana in South Waziristan. She is a gold medallist in Political Science from the Kohat University of Science and Technology. She has also done LLB.

She passed the provincial Public Service Commission examination and has worked at the Planning and Development, Establishment and Monitoring and Evaluation departments.