Encroachers manhandle Nagpur Municipal Corporation squad members

NAGPUR: The anti-encroachment drive being carried out by Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) took an ugly turn on Friday when an encroacher along with his neighbours pushed around NMC staffers including enforcement superintendent Maroti Ninawe.
Sources said that NMC along with the demolition squad had gone to Golibar Square around 11 am. After razing a few encroachments on the footpath, the squad told Anil Murkute that the stairs he had constructed on footpath were illegal and would be demolished.
Murkute runs a scrap shop in his house. He opposed the action and summoned his neighbours. The mob then threatened NMC officials, including Ninawe, with dire consequences. When NMC staffers refused to relent. they pushed them around.
The squad members went away and sought protection from Kotwali Police. When the squad returned with a large police contingent, Murkute’s neighbours did not come to his rescue and the stairs were razed.
NMC later carried out anti-encroachment operations in Maskasath Craddock Road to Marwadi Square areas and removed the encroachments done by traders of general provisions, edible oil and other material on the footpath.
The squad seized five trucks material and one truck sand that had been kept on footpath by some shopkeepers who were expanding their establishments. Some 130 encroachments were removed on Friday. Municipal commissioner Sanjiv Jaiswal and assistant deputy municipal commissioner (ADMC) Ravindra Kumbhare personally supervised the operations. Forty NMC staffers and 50 police officials under personal supervision of police commissioner Ankush Dhanvijay participated in the operation.
This is one of the largest anti-encroachment drives undertaken by NMC. On Thursday, a large number of encroachments on Central Bazar Road, Ramdaspeth, were removed. The footpath in front of Hotel Centre Point was dug up as it was being illegally used by the hotel for its own use. The stairs of Hotel Chidambara were demolished.
Action against such big establishments has sent shockwaves among business community of the city.