SOME illegal squatters have turned the stalls at the Provincial Agriculture and Commercial Show grounds in Chipata into residential houses.

And Eastern Province agriculture co-ordinator, Obvious Kabinda has warned all the people who have built illegal structures within the show pavilions to immediately vacate the premise.

Last year, the provincial agriculture and commercial show was held at the Dr Kenneth Kaunda Stadium because of the unpleasant sanitation facilities within the show grounds.

A check at the show grounds yesterday found that a number of individuals had erected illegal structures which they are now using as residences while some stands were being used as bars.

Some families spoken to at the show grounds said they had bought the land from Ministry of Agriculture officials.

Dr Kabinda, however, said the ministry had not sold any of its land at the show grounds.

He maintained that all those who had erected residential houses and extended other structures in the grounds had done so illegally.

He warned them to immediately vacate the premises before the law visited them.

"The Ministry of Agriculture has not given any person permission to extend the stalls and or turn them into residential houses.

"All the people who have built permanent structures on the pavilion should move out because it's illegal," he said.