Of the thousands of encroachments in the city, the Municipal Corporation has managed to remove just a handful of them. The fact has come to light in information sought by the Anti-Corruption and Crime Investigation Cell, an NGO, under the RTI Act.

According to the information, while under the Zone A of the MC, a total of 2,663 encroachments have been identified, of them only 42 have been removed. As many as 1,094 encroachments have been identified in the areas under MC Zone-B office while Zone C has 506 encroachments and 2,092 encroachments in Zone D.

Interestingly, except 42 encroachments removed in Zone A, the MC has failed to provide data under the remaining three zones. Though the MC said that a committee was formed in November 2008 to look into these encroachments, nothing much has been done till date.

The MC takes the plea that due to its employees engaged in election duties under the orders of the Election Commission, work could not be completed.

"Initially we had approached the MC's Public Information Officer (PIO) but the MC did not provide us the information in the specified time frame. Then we moved the State Information Commission and procured the information," said Rohit Sabharwal, president of the NGO.

Saurabh Gupta, legal advisor of the NGO, said, "The MC's plea action could not be taken as it had ample time to clear the encroachments if it was serious about it."