Fed up with the constant encroachment on the footpath of VCA stadium at Civil Lines, storeowners across the same area as well as residents demand the razing of the encroachment prevalent on the footpath.

With the ongoing construction of cement road opposite VCA coupled with the encroachment, it has made all the more difficult for customers visiting various stores a cumbersome task. With just few days to go for Diwali, where the sales are at its peak, storeowners are upset as their customers are finding it extremely difficult to park their vehicles and visit their stores.

One of the storeowners on the basis of anonymity told us, The encroachment has been existing since so long; wonder why no action has been taken against them. The road anyway is so narrow currently because of the ongoing construction work and to add to it, the encroached footpath has become a huge nuisance.

Another storeowner added, The encroachers park their vans all day long thus occupying the footpath as well as the road. If any another civilian parks his car at the same place, the traffic police put jammers on the car. They don’t put jammer on the encroachers car just because they give them hafta?

When we spoke to Nagpur Traffic DCP Chinmay Pandit about the issue, he told us, We haven’t received any official complaint regarding the same. But if we receive, we’re ready to provide them with all the help.”

Deepraj Pardikar, Deputy Mayor at Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) said, “We plan to raze the encroachment in the entire city within 15-20 days, We’ve been carrying out an anti-encroachment drive since a while; it’s just that due to elections we couldn’t entirely finish the drive. But now, we’ve resumed our work.”