District administration retrieves 52,823 kanals from land grabbers

DCs are directed to prepare data of state land to avoid re-encroachment

LAHORE: The district administration has retrieved over 52,823 kanals of land having a market value of around Rs38 billion from the land grabbers in Lahore division during the launch of the anti-encroachment operation started on October 2.

Speaking in a meeting on Clean and Green Pakistan project, Lahore Commissioner Dr Mujtaba Piracha highlighted that anti-encroachment drive was underway in full-swing across Lahore. So far around 271 FIRs have been registered and a fine of Rs900,000 has been imposed on encroachers.

He directed all the deputy commissioners to prepare data of the state land with the help of other district departments to avoid re-encroachment and make the anti-encroachment campaign sustainable. He highlighted that the Punjab government has already established an anti-encroachment cell for the supervision of the state land. Modern technology such as Google Maps would be used to protect the retrieved land, he maintained.

Meanwhile, Lahore district administration continued its anti-encroachment operations and retrieved over 500 kanals of agricultural land in Mauza Manga. Conservative estimates suggest the agriculture land has a market value of around Rs125 million. The anti-encroachment teams of the district administration also razed five illegally-constructed shops and registered case against 26 shopkeepers for displaying goods on roads. The district administration officials also demolished hundreds of illegally constructed ramps and shades in Shah Alam Market.

Similar, anti-encroachment operations had also been conducted in Johar Town, PIA Road, Revenue Housing Society, Shaukat Khanum Road, Shalimar Link Road, Hall Road and several other areas of the city. The district administration also sealed five shops for encroaching road in front of their shops on Shalimar Link Road. In several areas, district administration teams confiscated shopkeepers’ merchandise for displaying it on road in front of their shops.

The district administration teams, led by assistant commissioners, also remained active in the field during late hours. They visited model roads to check encroachments. While, the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) continued its operation to remove debris from Shah Alam Market, Hall Road and other areas. Lahore Deputy Commissioner Saliha Saeed also highlighted that the district administration would continue the operation till the removal of all encroachments from the city.

On Lahore’s Lord Mayor Colonel (retd) Mubashir Javed’s direction Municipal Officer (Regulation) Zubair Ahmad Wattoo conducted operation against encroachment in Kharak Nala, Main Bazar Mansoora and Ittefaq Town in Iqbal Zone. The teams demolished 26 temporary encroachments and sealed 11 illegal LPG shops. They also registered 20 FIRs with local police.

Similarly in Samanabad Zone, 18 temporary encroachments were removed from Gulshan-e-Ravi Market. The local government officials also conducted raids in Shalimar area and demolished eight temporary encroachments. In Data Gunj Buksh zone, eight makeshift encroachments were removed from Hall Road, besides removal of 108 shades, six boards and 220 ramps were razed. In Nishtar zone, 29 temporary encroachments were removed from Green Town, Mian Chowk and Azmat Chowk.

In a separate raid, the local government officials removed 16 temporary structures, 35 shades, 50 ramps and five shops from different parts of Gulberg area. FIRs were also registered against five shopkeepers over violation of anit-encroachment laws. In Aziz Bhatti Town, eight makeshift encroachments were removed from Allama Iqbal Road, while 15 temporary structures were removed from Shahdara and Grand Trunk Road in Ravi zone area.

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A huge sum Rs38b is the estimated market value of the land retrieved during operation.