Civic body now lodging police complaints against offenders

When asked if prior attempts of simply removing the encroachment proved futile, Naveen Malhotra, superintendent of the anti-encroachment wing said: "That is right. Although MC was active in getting the encroachments removed daily, the situation was same the very next day. Some repeated offenders were getting impossible to be deal with. So it was decided to send the written complaints to the police against offenders and then police would take further action."

Malhotra, however, clarified that the MC is "not registering FIRs against the offenders, but just written complaints to the police to inform them about the offenders".

The police complaints have been registered against the offenders in areas like BRS Nagar, Jawahar camp, Dandi Swami, Model Town and others. Malhotra added, "Political influences and habit of shopkeepers to allow the illegal carts and other encroachments taking meager amount of Rs 100-200 from rehriwallas are the major roadblocks in making the city encroachment free. This is the major reason this strong action has been taken."

Malhotra added that people never used to admit that they were doing illegal encroachments due to which photography and videography are now done on the spot and kept as a solid proof. "Now first we click the picture of the encroachment and then book the offenders," said Malhotra.

Giving complete credit of the drive to Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria, Malhotra said, "He is personally visiting the affected areas and getting the encroachments removed. He is the brain behind this police complaint strategy."

MC auction fails to attract a single bidder, cancelled

An auction of a commercial land site on Hambran road failed to attract even a single bidder on Wednesday. The cash strapped MC decided to sell the land measuring 5,917 square yards whose reserve price was set at Rs 40,000 per square yard. Surinder Batra, assistant town planner said: "No bidder turned up for the auction despite the notice by MC three weeks back." However, he refused to comment on any reason for the flop show. The MC is planning to auction two more properties in coming days.

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