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MEPA officials and policemen have moved in to remove caravans at Gnejna Bay.
The operation started early this morning, drawing loud protests from the caravan owners.
"We feel betrayed, why did they not come here before the (EP) election?" one of the irate owners told timesofmalta.com.
The caravans - about a dozen - were set up in a corner of the bay about a month ago, as they have done for several years. Most are mobile.
One of the owners explained that they were on private land.
"We are not disturbing anyone and we keep the place tidy and use mobile toilets," he said.
When asked if the land owners had given their permission for the caravans, he said some of them had visited the site in the past and never objected, because they said they were not using the land anyway.
The caravan owner also complained that he and his colleagues were being treated like criminals.
"Why this arrogance, why are we being treated like criminals, we have done nothing wrong," he said, adding that the first he knew of the action was when a crane and policemen turned up at the site.
However MEPA officials pointed out to the caravan owners that they had received enforcement notices in the past.
Most of the caravan owners removed the caravans themselves once the officials turned up, initially parking them in the public car park..
MEPA CASELOAD
Meanwhile, MEPA reported that during May it decided 328 development applications and received 554 new applications. The net pending caseload at the end of the month was 4,833.
Last month, the Authority also processed 73 notifications of development which do not require a formal application.
It also issued 12 contravention notices to developers on sites that were breaching Construction Site Management Regulations. These contraventions were related to the absence of hoarding and screening around building sites and not affixing of notice board on-site. These fines amounted to a total of €2,795.16.
Inspectors also issued a total of 31 other contravention notices, amounting to €11,006.15, to individuals that were found breaching the Littering Act. In this case fines were mainly issued for the illegal depositing of refuse near public skips.
During the same month, 83 Stop and Enforcement notices were issued, 63 in Malta and 20 in Gozo. The enforcement section within MEPA closed 110 cases, 87 in Malta and 23 in Gozo. 30 other enforcement cases were sanctioned by a planning permit while another 75 cases were resolved by the owners’ decision to remove their illegal development and comply with the enforcement notice.