In pursuance of orders issued by Uttarakhand High Court in the past, an anti-encroachment drive will be conducted from September 5 to 28 in Dehradun city. On Wednesday, the Dehradun district magistrate, C Ravishankar, presided over a meeting with the district level Special Task Force. The city area has been divided into four zones with four separate teams. Vice chairman of Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) Ashish Kumar Shrivastava said that case will be filed against those who will try to erase the encroachment markings made by officials.  

DM Ravishankar said, “Teams will undertake the drive from 10:30 AM till four in the evening after which they will give details of the drive to law additional secretary which will be discussed by senior officials. The campaign will start from Premnagar area from Thursday, where the sub-divisional magistrate, Tehsildar, Lekhpal, personnel of Public Works Department (PWD), Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD), MDDA and local police will be present.”

He further stated, “PWD and revenue department will first complete identification and marking of such places where the encroachment will be demolished and after that the MDDA will be doing sealing work. During this if people show necessary documents, it will be checked and verified by revenue department and after that actions will be taken accordingly.”

He added, “Encroachment done under flyovers and Rail Over Bridges will also be removed. The place is required for the parking of fire brigade vehicles and for keeping the equipment of PWD among other purposes.”

Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Arun Mohan Joshi assured that required police force will be provided to the task force.