Encroachments impediment to clean environment

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

LAHORE: The trend of encroachments in the city is becoming a source of scourge for the citizens and an impediment to a clean and hygienic environment, which is essential for the general health of the city and its inhabitants, speakers said at a conference held at the Government College Shalimar (GCS) on “value of civic sense and observance of civic laws”.

GCS Principal, Dr Shahid Mahmood, while speaking at a seminar, said, “It is not just the responsibility of the government, but each one of us should make an effort to keep our city clean and clear our neighbourhoods of encroachments which have turned the streets and the bazaars into narrow and congested places, restricting movement for the pedestrians and commuters alike.”

He urged the students who had turned up in large numbers at the seminar to play an active and aggressive role in ensuring cleanliness within their respective localities and neighbourhoods through educating people about the value and benefits of observing civic laws.

Other speakers, which included the Vice Principal, Javed Ahmad Bajwa, Associate Professor of English, Mahmood Ahmad, and Lecturer of Islamiyat, Sheikh Muhammad Saeed, also highlighted the need for a clean and encroachment-free environment and called for joint efforts to curb the practice of encroachments.

They added, “The encroachments posed a genuine hazard to smooth flow of traffic in addition to being a cause for usurpation of individual rights and privileges.”

They pointed out that because of the encroachers trespassing the valuable government land and public space, tension levels in society were rising and people were spending their precious hard-earned money in long, drawn-out litigations to reclaim their lands from encroachers. “This must stop and for this to happen, all sections of society should make joint and coordinated efforts to show zero tolerance to encroachments,” they concluded.