Lokmat News Network
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
The new civic chief G Sreekanth informed the anti-encroachment squad of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation (CSMC) to bring improvement in its functioning
on Monday. He suggested to implemented the drive once a week but with aggressiveness.
Taking a cue from it, the anti-encroachment squad removed as many as 40 illegal pucca encroachments which existed for the past 25 years in the vicinity of Himayat Baugh Chowk on Tuesday morning.
The land mafia had encroached on the government land on the 100-feet wide road extending from Uddhavrao Patil Chowk to Chaus Colony in the vicinity of Himayat Baugh. The road was encroached by more than 40 encroachments through the blessings of the land mafia. So far, the civic authorities could not muster the courage in removing these encroachments due to myriad reasons including the threats by the encroachers.
Today, the squad started removing the illegal pucca constructions and encroachments made on plots of 15x15 feet and 25x15 feet sizes. The encroachers had also set up their businesses by setting up commercial shops. Ironically, the important feature is that the land mafia was collecting rent from these small and petty traders. It may be noted that the Himayat Baugh vicinity is in the VIP area, therefore, a large number of bungalows of VIP persons are there in the surroundings. For the past many years, these residents were facing inconvenience due to the encroachments.
Prior to the action, the land mafia resumed their trick of threatening the civic authorities to prevent action. The additional municipal commissioner Ravindra Nikam and designated officer Savita Sonawane tried their best to convince them but was vain. Later on, the authorities hinted at filing offences against the obstructors. As a result, the land mafia disappeared from the spot. Few of them even tried to pressurise the civic squad through a former corporator. The common citizens in general welcomed the action and lauded the civic officials.
The designated officer Vasant Bhoye, police inspector Fahim Hashmi, Begumpura police station personnel, building inspector Syed Jamshed, Rameshwar Surase and CIDCO engineer Milan Khillare took part in today’s action.
Box
The new municipal commissioner G Sreekanth is reaching the Smart City Office headquarters at 7 am daily and starts the office work. He is motivating all the officials and personnel to bring radical change in the functioning of the office. On Monday, he reviewed the functioning of the anti-encroachment squad. On Tuesday, he ordered the Solid Waste Management (SWM) officials to set a target of making the city garbage-free.