Bulldozers Monday pulled down structures which had been illegally erected along rail lines and other routes near the Graphic Road as the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) effected its long-planned demolition exercise. Also razed down were structures at the heavily populated slum, notoriously referred to as Abuja, near Accra Brewery. The Accra City Engineer, Mr. Carl Clerk, said the exercise was the first phase of a massive demolition exercise to be executed by the AMA along the rail lines and at Abuja before December this year. At 9 a.m. when the bulldozer pulled up along the rail line unannounced, inhabitants started running helter-skelter, with some parking their belongings to open spaces after they realised that the exercise was real. Some of them went on their knees pleading with the AMA task force to give them some time to relocate but members of the task force would not budge as, according to them, all the warnings and extension of time had been ignored by the squatters. Mr Kobby Mensah, whose container was destroyed, said he sold confectionery in the kiosk to supplement his salary as an employee of the Ghana Railway Company. He said although he had explained to the team that the container was not being used for anything but the retailing of a few items, "nobody would listen to my plea". He said although the AMA had warned them some time ago to remove all those structures, "it still collects tolls from us regularly". Some of those who could not reach their belongings before the heavy equipment moved into action looked on helplessly as those belongings were destroyed, while others wailed and cried. Mr Clerk said about 60 structures were affected in the exercise, while more than 400 kiosks and other illegal structures along the rail lines up to the Neoplan Station near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle would be affected in the course of the exercise. He said the action was in line with the AMA's mandate and objective to beautify and clear the city of miscreants and criminals, adding that the assembly would not compromise on its stance to ensure discipline in the city. Source: Daily Graphic