85,000 sq m of road, 48,000 sq m of parking space cleared, AMC tells HC

AHMEDABAD: Following Gujarat high court orders to clear roads for smooth traffic movement, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has submitted its bimonthly report and told the court that in last two months, more than 85,000 square metre road space has been cleared of encroachments.

In its report the AMC has said that its estate department has in the months of August and September removed 24,696 temporary and permanent encroachments from roads across the city.

The total area cleared by removal of encroachments, including 1,096 vehicles and eight chairs, is 85,109 sq m. Of the six zones of the civic body, the biggest anti-encroachment drive was carried out in the New West Zone, where 68,534 sq m space was reclaimed for public use.

AMC’s town development department also removed constructions illegally put up in spaces meant for vehicle parking and cleared 48,326-sq m space in all six zones. Ever since AMC started the traffic drive, it has been facing allegations that many street vendors were rendered jobless. The civic body has told the HC that it has identified 42,968 street vendors and undertaken a project to issue them identity cards. However, until now it could issue such cards only to 9,318 vendors.

As promised to the HC, the AMC has created 74 pay-and-park facilities across the city. It has also identified and removed as many as 103 “illegal bumps” on city roads.

On the aspect of HC directions for removal of stray cattle from public streets, AMC told the HC that it has now formed 12 teams in its cattle nuisance control department, where people work in two shifts as against only three teams functioning earlier.

The civic body has informed the court that as promised it has started tagging and registering cattle. Till October 3, it tagged 3,155 animals and registered 2,822 cattle owners. In all, it has registered 21, 642 cattle in the city.