The story of Ronnie Gauci, the retired soldier from Għargħur, made for heartbreaking reading but there are many who were left fuming.

Aged 66, Gauci made it to the headlines after the Planning Authority’s enforcement arm descended upon a garden in Top of the World, Għargħur, and forced him to destroy his stone creations.

There are some valid reasons which justify the PA’s surprising decision to act in an uncharacteristically decisive manner. But public opinion can be amply forgiven for its disappointment and subsequent anger at the farce in Għargħur. The PA rarely appears to insist on enforcing clear breaches of planning and environmental laws unless the contraveners happen to be powerless individuals like Gauci and countless others whose stories will never be known.

The regulator has, however, excelled at its timing in inflaming raw nerves. Elsewhere in the PA, the board approved a five-star hotel in Saqqajja designed by Jesmond Mugliett and promoted by Lou Bondì, drawing the ire of residents and activists.

As horror stories mounted in the past weeks, with news of shady development applications in Gozo, protected sites under threat and criticism of Environment Resources Authority head Victor Axiak, those who read about discounts on enforcement fines would be right in thinking that the PA was only playing a childish April’s Fool prank on Gauci.

In fact, one struggles to refrain from repeating what is now obvious, that the PA is a playground bully, yet an entity that is entirely servile to its headmasters.

It would be truly heartening to see the PA, one day, take action on the numerous illegalities that dot our coast, including anything from boathouses and kiosks to fish farms.

Perceptions of the PA would surely start to change if, one day, it enforced and removed eyesores, including, for example, the former Mistra Village complex in Xemxija, hundreds of illegal rooms used for hunting in ODZ areas and the scores of countryside spots adorned by illegally deposited building material.

But, surely, the PA would start to at least gain a bit of respect among many if it were to take decisive action against someone of its size.

A few metres from the ruins of Mistra lies another abandoned building, a massive block of flats owned by Charles Polidano. And it’s no coincidence that the PA has, so far, only resorted to issuing daily fines. There will be no triumphant news feature about the removal of illegalities from Montekristo on TVM news; the resolution will not be televised.

The sheer hypocrisy of the PA is blatant for all to see. While Polidano has amassed over €700,000 in fines for known illegalities, its enforcement arm is intent on going after the small fish, much to the chagrin of hundreds of people directly suffering the consequences not only of planning laissez faire but also of bad planning decisions made over the decades.

Minister Aaron Farrugia has lost more credibility through his authorities’ actions than he has with his ill-handling of social media. And he should recognise this much, especially after his silence on Infrastructure Malta’s shocking demolition of a garden in his own constituency, Żebbuġ.

Perhaps it would be advisable for Farrugia not to replicate the mockery of the PA in his newly founded Building and Construction Authority, which came into being as a direct result of the need to rein in the construction industry.

The country does not afford yet another authority with no control.