Encroachments a threat to Surat's 'Smart City' dream

Surat: Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) has been grappling with the problem of encroachments for the last so many years, a main impediment to the city realizing its dream of a Smart City.
There exist 350 religious structures and one lakh houses illegally built on government land. The tribe of 50,000 hawkers only make things worse for people in the city.Consolation lies in Supreme Court's guidelines that religious structures built on public land have to be removed under any circumstances. SMC standing committee had passed orders to deal with encroachments in the past, but they hardly have any impact on people. Culture of street food thrives in the city. Hence, removing 50,000 hawkers, who occupy footpaths of main roads and even the newly developed Gaurav Path and Udhna-Magdalla Road, proves to be difficult.
"We have served notices to several trusts managing such religious structures and had even shifted a few of them in the past. Many have asked for time to be allowed to shift to a suitable place. One thing is clear that no new structure will be allowed to come up on government land," municipal commissioner Milind Torwane said.
"Absence of stringent law encourages encroachments. Public support also exists for encroachers," a SMC official said.
"Dedicated hawking zones for registered hawkers will solve the problem of hawkers to a great extent," Jagte Raho president Jaylal said. His NGO works for street vendors.
Another issue that SMC needs to tackle on a regular basis is that of slum colonies. Surat had nearly two lakh slum dwellers. Their number has gone up by 50,000 in a decade. SMC is providing houses to one lakh slum dwellers, but that would not be enough, another SMC officer said.