Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 10: The shopkeepers of Mendhar town today held a protest against local administration after the latter destroyed raised structures of about 200 shops in Mendhar town in an anti-encroachment drive conducted during the intervening night of November 9 and 10.
According to the reports, a team of local administration led by SDM Rahul Yadav, SDPO Riaz Tantray and concerned Tehsildar started an anti-encroachment drive yesterday at about 11 PM, which culminated in the wee hours of today. During the drive, the team destroyed many illegal constructions like stairs, raised structures, water tanks, etc, by the shopkeepers of the town, as these illegal occupations were affecting smooth and free flow of traffic in the busy town.
Today morning the shopkeepers of the town staged a massive protest against the local administration for damaging their property and shops. They alleged that the administration did not issued any notice prior to anti-encroachment drive.
However, when contacted, the concerned SDM said that the erring shopkeepers were issued notice two times to destroy the illegal constructions on their own, but they did not pay heed to the notices, which compelled them to take action against them.
Meanwhile, he said that Section 144 has been imposed in the area to avert any untoward incident.
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