Encroachments make city streets unhappy

Lucknow has around 3,000km of road network but more than 70% of it is encroached either because of illegal parking, street vendors or temporary/permanent structures. This leaves too little space for commuters, pedestrians and cyclists. The city rec around Rs crore fro Lucknow Municipal Corporation every year to repair broken patches and devel new streets the task struggle because of excessive encroachment, which leads to frequent jams.
Though LMC conducts encroachment removal drives from time to time, lack of enforcement and follow-up by police and LMC lead to the same encroachments mushrooming all over again. Markets like Bhootnath, Kapoorthala, Aminabad and Chowk witness encroachment removal drives every month but soon all vendors reappear.
While LMC mes police for not checking the reappearance of encroachments, people feel that lack of will and non-coordination among agencies like LDA, LMC, PWD and traffic police is to blame.
People also said the lack of enforcement of punishment on offenders adds to the problem. “If they impose penalties or lodge FIR against offenders, no one will dare encroach roads,” said Nikita Maheshwari, a Gomtinagar resident.
Vimla Kamal of Indiranagar said, “If they want, they can clear maximum encroachments from roads but they lack will. Before the Investors’ Summit, all prime roads were cleaned completely and maintained till the time guests were here but as soon as they left, the streets became encroached. This shows laxity.”