Residents want revival of anti- encroachment drive in markets

LUDHIANA: Time has come for Ludhiana police to revive their anti-encroachment drive in the old city areas as the markets there have again become chaotic. The festival season is coming ahead, hosiery season is already on and moreover, the Sunday lockdown is over now. Therefore, the situation will become worse in the markets located in old city areas in the coming days.
The old city areas of Ludhiana have been chaotic in every season. It was a long awaited demand of city residents to manage the traffic chaos and remove encroachments in this area. For the first time ever, the Ludhiana police started an anti-encroachment drive in these areas on January 20. Initially, the police served notices to shopkeepers and owners of rehris to remove encroachment. After sending of notices, the police not only removed encroachment, but also booked shopkeepers for violation.
After the old city, the drive was implemented in other parts of the city also. However, the drive discontinued due to Covid-19 outbreak. Now, markets are open and so encroachments have returned. The shopkeepers are keeping their stuff outside the shops as usual and blocking the road, resulting in traffic chaos. Further, vehicle parking on narrow roads is making the situation even worse for commuters.
The TOI visited a few markets and found the worst chaos on Circular road, which is called zip market, and also the backside of Gaushala road, Gurmandi, Transport Nagar, division number 3 and some parts of Chaura Bazar also.
Ankush Arora, a resident of New Madhopuri, said, “There is a zip market on Circular road. The hosiery season has started, due to which the market remains crowded now. On this particular road, first the shopkeepers park their vehicles outside shops and then they keep their stuff outside the shops and on the road. In addition, when a shopkeeper gets some delivery, the vehicle is parked in the middle of the road and this leads to traffic chaos as other vehicles don’t get space to move. This has become a routine scenario here.”
A resident of Chawani Mohlla, Pawan Malhotra, said, “When Ludhiana police had started an anti-encroachment drive, our lives became easy. There was no traffic chaos and no congested roads. But now the situation is the same again. It is time for Ludhiana police to revive the drive as again shopkeepers have started doing encroachments outside their shops and the vehicles are parked in a haphazard way.
He added, “In Transport Nagar, overloaded carts and pick-up vans can be seen blocking the roads. If you ask them to move the vehicle aside, they start abusing you.”