Northern Bypass: Villagers bemoan throwaway prices offered for their land

Say property bears commercial value, govt average price formula is unjust

PESHAWAR: Landowners of Patwar Payan and Patwar Bala villages urged the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led coalition government to take notice of the throwaway prices at which their valuable properties were being purchased for the Northern Bypass.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Amanullah Kanizai, the head of a committee of local landowners, said thousands of acres of land had been acquired by the National Highway Authority (NHA) with the help of the provincial government. He added there were areas where land had been acquired for Rs150,000 per marla, while their property was being picked at a few thousand rupees.



“My personal land of 400 kanals is to be acquired,” he said. “This is agricultural land with commercial value and great potential as industrialists are establishing marble units in the area and they offer Rs500,000 or even Rs1 million per marla based on location.”

He added, “However, the revenue department decided to buy the same land using the average price in the area.”

Kanizai said the average price was calculated on the basis of the sale and purchase of land. However, the government implemented Section-IV on the property over the last four years, thus barring its sale.

“When the sale and purchase of the land has been banned for four years, how can you judge the market value using the yearly average of sale and purchase?” he asked.

“When people buy land, they show lower prices in the documents for taxation purposes with the help of the local patwari,” he said. “But now the provincial government and the revenue department are set to fix rates on the basis of those transactions, which is unjust.”

Kanizai added the landowners formed a committee and decided not to allow this to proceed.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 20^th, 2016.