As per a notice issued here today by the district administration, the public in general and encroachers in particular have been asked to voluntarily remove encroachments from the acquired land of roads, markets, state and departmental land within 15 days. In case of failure in this regard, the illegal structures will be demolished and cost incurred in the operation may be recovered as arrears of land revenue apart from stringent legal action against the encroachers.The departments have been asked to finalise their preparation for anti-encroachment drive and material for protection of retrieved land.It has also been noticed that some land grabbers have attempted to install religious structures or symbols for facilitating encroachments which will not be any deterrence to the anti-encroachment drive. The public has also been asked to remain vigilant about expected misinformation by land grabbers in an attempt to escape legal action.Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner, Dr. Shahid Iqbal Choudhary in a meeting, attended by senior officers of various departments, reviewed the joint-report submitted by the committee of officers from Police, Revenue, Municipal Committee, MVD, PWD, BRO, Traffic and Rural Development Department among others constituted on 30 May 2017 to identify encroachments for removal, proposals for creation of parking lots, traffic management, relocation of vendors, widening of market roads and other measures.
The committee submitted its report on 24 June recommending strong measures to decongest the town and restoration of driving space on various roads like Rajouri-Thanamandi, Rajouri-Khandli apart from roads within the town.A team of officers headed by the DDC carried out inspection of encroachments and proposed parking spaces yesterday.Three wheelers and other commercial vehicles will be put to specific colour coding to ensure avoidance of route permit violation. Besides, most of the important markets will be no-parking zones with parking and shuttle service to be provided for vehicle owners on payment calculated on no-profit-no loss basis.Areas in Kheora, Gujjar Mandi, Bhella, Bus stand vicinity will be provided valet parking where drivers will take the vehicles to parking lots and return to spot on call of customer which will be a relief for vehicle owners from walking long distances to parking lots.The anti-encroachment drive will be followed by creation of parking spaces and simultaneous regulation of traffic including time-regulation, no-entry zones, one-way traffic and other measures. District Administration has sought proactive public cooperation in this drive.