NEW DELHI: The Public Works Department (PWD) of the Delhi government has sought suggestions from its field staff to check recurrence of encroachments on its roads in the national Capital.
Rakesh Kumar Agrawal, the Engineer-in-Chief of PWD, has directed field staff to be "vigilant" so that recurrence of encroachment does not take place, a senior official said.
The direction was issued at a recently-held meeting that was chaired by Agrawal, according to an official of the Department.
The PWD owns around 1,260-km roads in the national Capital.
Anti-encroachment drives are being carried out in the city on the directions of a Special Task Force, that was formed by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry.
"All the field staff have been asked to give suggestions on how to check recurrence of encroachments on roads owned by the Public Works Department.
"They (field staff) know the ground reality that is why they have been asked to send their suggestions to the engineer-in-chief," the PWD official said.
PWD is providing logistics to Municipal Corporations of Delhi for removal of encroachments on its roads.
"No field staff will issue any notice for removal of any encroachment on PWD roads. Such right lies with the MCD only. The PWD has to provide manpower and machinery for removal of encroachments," the official said.
The minutes of the meeting stated, "Field staff should be regularly vigilant that recurrence of encroachment does not take place and if it happens again, the same may be reported to the special task force, the Municipal Corporations and the Delhi Police for removal of the same."
In January, several legislators of the Aam Aadmi Party had demanded Delhi PWD Minister Satyendar Jain that the Department be given powers to remove encroachments from roads to ensure smooth vehicular movement.
Jain had then said, "During the meeting, most of the MLAs demanded that the PWD should be given power to remove encroachments, which cause traffic congestion. At present, only the Municipal Corporations have such powers."