Building owners given a week to show documents or face music

Rawalpindi : The Municipal Corporation Rawalpindi (MCR) has served notices upon residential and commercial buildings along Murree Road from Mareer Chowk to Faizabad to bring registry and ownership papers of land within seven days otherwise department will take strict action against them.

Municipal Corporation Rawalpindi will start operation to demolish all illegal buildings along roadsides of Murree Road from February 3, 2019.

On the other hand, city people have strongly protested against MCR and said that concerned department was harassing them in the name of anti-encroachment operation. They said that many old buildings date back to pre-partition days and how people could provide their registry or ownership papers.

Municipal Officer (Planning) Shahzad Haider told ‘The News’ that in first phase they served notices to residential and commercial buildings along Murree Road from Mareer Chowk to Faizabad. “If the owners will provide original documents and ownership papers, we will never touch them but we will demolish all other illegal buildings,” he warned.

He said that in second phase we will serve notices to inner city areas to provide registry and ownership papers. The Deputy Commissioner (DC), Rawalpindi Dr Umar Jahangir has ordered to complete this operation immediately, he said.

It is worth mentioning here that city people and particularly business community are in the state of an uncertain condition due to anti-encroachment operation. Several scuffles between people and MCR officials have occurred in different localities during anti-encroachment operation. The affected people have filed several applications to register FIRs against MCR while concerned department also filed several applications to file FIRs against violators for occupying state owned land.

Meanwhile, the encroachment mafia here at Fawara Chowk, Trunk Bazaar, Raja Bazaar, City Saddar Road, Bara Bazaar and Namak Mandi used abusive language and pelted stones over Municipal Corporation Rawalpindi (MCR) officials during operation here on Sunday.

A heavy contingent of police reached the spot to control the situation, but encroachment mafia threatened government officials.

Municipal Corporation Rawalpindi (MCR) Chief Officer Syed Shafqat Raza told ‘The News’ that they faced strong reaction of shopkeepers here at Fawara Chowk, Raja Bazaar, Bara Bazaar and Trunk Bazaar when they were removing encroachments on Sunday.

The shopkeepers used abusive language and some of them even pelted stones over my staff. “I called police to control the situation,” he said.

He said that this operation will continue till removal of encroachment mafia and retrieval of state owned land at any cost.