BHOPAL: Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) carried out an anti-encroachment drive in the Old City areas of Bhopal on Sunday. In a major action, civic teams razed nearly 70 sheds outside shops between Devki Nagar Fatak and the Housing Board Colony, Karond.
The police teams had to use mild force to disperse the crowds a couple of times after the owners of the shops and other encroachers tried to disrupt the drive. As the teams of BMC reached the spots, the encroachers tried to shift their belongings elsewhere. The teams targeted the encroachment of liquor shops, meat shops and sand and boulders that were placed inside the sheds. These sheds were built outside the permitted area of the shops.
The teams seized nearly seven trucks full of furniture, sheds, cages of hens, handcarts, meat and mutton shops, banners and other items which they found during the drive. Besides officials of BMC, police officials — including the local city superintendent of police (CSP), Anil Tripathi, SHO and other officials — were present during the drive. The drive began around 10 in the morning and ended around 4 pm. The ahata of former corporator Badri Prasad Tiwari, along his liquor shop, was also razed by the civic body teams.
At the time the drive was underway, the local residents had gathered around. It also led to a traffic jam in the area. The encroachers tried to oppose the drive and they kept on raising slogans against BMC’s action. The cops even had to resort to a mild lathi-charge to disperse the mob. A huge police force from the local police station and the control-room remained deployed at the scene until the drive ended.
