Pune: The Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) encroachment department has intensified its operations to remove unauthorized vendors and businesses encroaching on footpaths and roads in the central Kasba-Vishrambaug area.

In a drive conducted Friday (January 17), the team targeted key locations, including Mangalwar Peth, Barne Road, Parge Chowk, Khadda Garage, Rasta Peth, and the KEM Hospital area. Items from unauthorized vendors were seized during the operation, filling three large trucks.

The administration has also increased patrols in areas such as Shivaji Road, Laxmi Road, Jogeshwari Mandir Road, and Kumthekar Road to prevent further encroachments by unauthorized vendors.

This intensified drive follows a meeting held between the Municipal Commissioner and a delegation of BJP MLAs, led by Union Minister Murlidhar Mohol and Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil. The leaders directed the PMC to ensure that roads and footpaths are free from encroachments and emphasized that the action should continue even in the face of external pressure.

Over the past few days, the PMC has carried out similar anti-encroachment drives across the city. In today’s operation, the items confiscated from vendors in Mangalwar Peth and Rasta Peth filled three large trucks. Since January 13, the encroachment department has also recovered ₹31 lakh in overdue license fees from authorized vendors.

The Kasba-Vishrambaug ward office has launched a comprehensive campaign to eliminate encroachments in the central parts of the city. The administration has intensified patrols on major market roads, including Laxmi Road, Shivaji Road, Kumthekar Road, and Jogeshwari Mandir Road, to ensure that encroachments on footpaths and roads do not reoccur.