PHAGWARA: As many as 95 FIRs are being lodged under Punjab Prevention of Defacement of Property Act in Phagwara and this happens to be the only town in the state with such large-scale action against violators under this Act even as defacement of public property is happening across the state.The complaints are being lodged by the authorities — municipal corporation, Powercom and National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) — after Phagwara additional deputy commissioner Iqbal Singh Sandhu directed their officials to move their complaints to the police and get FIRs lodged. While some of the FIRs have already been lodged and some are in the process, all action has taken place in a week.On Sunday, Sandhu asked NHAI to register FIRs against 53 persons, institutions/orgnaizations who have used public property for their advertisement in violation of the Act and Punjab and Haryana high court directions in this regard. NHAI and other government agencies have also been directed to remove all publicity material from their properties.Interestingly, while religious or community organizations have been escaping with violations, this time their names also figure in the official orders issued by Sandhu asking NHAI to get cases registered. NHAI officials checked the National Highway 1 within municipal limits of Phagwara and reported 53 violations on Sunday.While 24 complaints have been given by Phagwara MC, five by MC, NHAI is becoming complainant in 66 cases. Till a week back, scores of illegal hoardings congratulating newly elected Phagwara mayor Arun Khosla and deputy mayor Ranjit Singh Khurana dotted the town. However, these were removed before the ADC cracked the whip and politicians have escaped action.It may be mentioned here that authorities rarely invoke this section, except in days of elections when Election Commission remains tough against violators, despite large scale violations in the entire state.