Administration to seize goods of shops found encroaching Patna roads

PATNA: After being rapped by the Patna high court on Saturday for traffic congestion and encroachment in the city, top officials of the district administration personally supervised the anti-encroachment drive in the state capital on Monday.
Patna DM Kumar Ravi said this time the team officials were confiscating the goods of shops or makeshift stalls encroaching the roads.“This is to prevent such people from encroaching the space again after the drive gets over,” Ravi told TOI. He said once the encroachments are removed, another team will inspect that locality to check any further intrusion.
Ravi said construction material kept on the roads also causes traffic congestion while construction work carried out without cover leads to air pollution in the city. In such cases, public announcement will be made to inform people about the violation and then their construction material will be seized and process may be initiated to cancel their building maps.
DPRO Anil Kumar Choudhary said this special drive will continue till August 31.
Talking about the illegal garages near Bypass and repairing of vehicles on the roadside leading to traffic problem in that locality, Ravi said they will be first told to remove their workshops. If they don’t do it then FIR will be lodged against their owners. He also asked the civic body officials to ensure no food or any makeshift stall is put up around 50 metres of any school and college in the city.
The district administration will also keep strict vigil on city buses as their drivers pick or drop passengers in the middle of the road, causing traffic problem. “We will not issue them any challan on the spot. Instead, our officials will quietly sit inside buses and click photos of those drivers who stop the buses in the middle of the road. Action will be taken against those drivers who do not do their duty in uniform. We will cancel their licences,” the DM said.
Besides the DM, divisional commissioner RL Chongthu and SSP Garima Malik also supervised the anti-encroachment drive.