Srinagar, May 14: Finally, the City police has started removing encroachments on the Jhelum banks in Noor Bagh area, which had become a “hub of illegal activities.”
 The locals said for the past some four years scores of illegal hutments had popped up on the river banks between Chattabal Wier and Cement bridge.
 They said some government gunmen and miscreants had constructed the hutments and rented it out to “anti social elements.”
 The residents said the encroachments were a breeding ground of “criminal activities”.
 “The hutments were a safe haven for druggies and burglars who would frequently live their in the garb of being rag pickers,” the locals said.
 They said there used to be so much of drug trafficking there one could smell narcotics particularly Charas in the air.
 Besides, at night they said, the burglars would burn stolen cables to get copper out of it.
 “Billows of smoke and smell had affected our life as we couldn’t sleep properly,” said a paramedic living in the area.
 Many of the locals said they had planned to migrate from the area just because of “riverside menace.”
 “We had been repeatedly appealing the authorities to get rid of the menace but they never helped us,” the locals said adding that some government gunmen had been preventing police action.
 “But the present drive by police has cleared out doubts,” the locals said while hailing the SSP City Javed Reyaz Beedar and the concerned SHO Farooq Ahmed Mir.
 When contacted the SHO confirmed that the police had started a drive to remove encroachments.
 “From boozing to burglary, these hutments had been a hub of all anti-social activities,” the SHO told Greater Kashmir adding the drive would continue so that hutments don’t come up again.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 14 May 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 14 May 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 15 May 2010 00:00:00 IST