Encroachments make a swift return

HYDERABAD: The drive to remove illegal encroachments from footpaths a few days back has served little purpose, as structures have come up again at the same places.Speaking to Express, Town Planning officials said temporary encroachments on road margins have sprang up again at places from where they were removed, due to lack of monitoring by GHMC staff and traffic police. The civic body has proposed to take up the removal drive in the first week of every month but in view of festivals, it has been put on hold for a few days.The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation had taken a up the drive to remove footpath encroachments in July and August and removed over 13,000 encroachments in all 18 circles.The drive was taken up after the Andhra Pradesh High Court, Lok Ayukta and State Human Rights Commission expressed displeasure about encroachments on road margins and public places which lead to regular traffic chaos in the city. The authorities felt there is an immediate need to remove encroachments on a war-footing to improve the condition. Meanwhile, GHMC is in process of identifying hawkers’ zones for which circulars have been issued to all zonal commissioners and deputy municipal commissioners.The civic body has already notified 312 hawkers’ zones for the erstwhile MCH area.They include 116 green zones, 104 amber zones and 92 red zones.The red zone is the area where hawkers are banned at all times), green zone where they are allowed without any restrictions and amber zones, where vending is permitted on specific days or time. Officials said the process of identifying hawkers zones will take around a month.