Govt will show no leniency against land grabbers: Punjab CM

Buzdar says a databank is being established for best utilisation of state land

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has said the government has initiated indiscriminate action against powerful land grabbers during the ongoing anti-encroachment drive in its first 100 days.

He expressed these views while addressing on Thursday. “So far, 759,428 kanals of state land have been retrieved from various squatters. The estimated cost of the retrieved land goes into billions and trillions of rupees, which is almost equivalent to the development budget of Punjab province,” he said.

“In fact,” he stressed, “this is not an ordinary achievement as indiscriminate action has been initiated on such a large scale for the first time. The PTI government has shown no leniency to anybody during this operation, while no government would dare to take action against the land grabbers in the past.”

Giving details of the retrieved state land across the province, the chief minister highlighted that 56,264 kanals land has been retrieved in Lahore alone. Over 22,788 kanals state land was recovered in Gujranwala and another 136,000 kanals land was retrieved in Faisalabad division. Similarly, 7,350 kanals in Rawalpindi division, 405,665 kanals in Dera Ghazi Khan, 14,563 kanals in Bahawalpur, 36,000 kanals in Sahiwal, 56,284 kanals in Sargodha and another 24,000 kanals state land has been recovered in Multan division.

He said all the departments concerned have taken custody of their retrieved lands and a databank was being established for the best utilisation of this state resource. Anti-encroachment committees have also been established at the district level and utmost effort has been made so that hapless segments and people engaged in small-scale businesses may not be disturbed, he maintained.

Buzdar pointed out that his predecessor in Punjab had set up four different camp offices at Jati Umra, 96-H Model Town, 180-H Model Town and 41-S DHA in the past. “On the contrary, I don’t have any camp office,” he said. He said during the previous regime, more than 2,000 security officials were deployed for the security of the chief minister and his camp offices. “Now, only 60 officials are performing the security duty.”

He further pointed out that previously Rs550 million was spent from the state resources for the security of Jati Umra and not a single penny has been spent in this regard during his term.

Revealing the details of various actions to curb the corruption during the last three months, Buzdar said the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) has made a recovery of Rs34 billion during this period, of which Rs2 billion have been received in the head of fines and Rs32 billion gained in form of retrieved state lands.

He indicated that important disclosures have been surfaced during actions of the ACE. During an inquiry of Ittefaq Foundry, it was gleaned that Ittefaq Foundry, which was originally belonged to Sharif family, has had illegally occupied around 240 kanals state land in Kot Lakhpat area of tehsil Model Town in Lahore. Out of it, 71 kanal belongs to federal government while rest of the land is owned by the Punjab government. This matter is being further investigated through revenue record and many more disclosures would be brought before the media soon, he assured.

He further divulged that the ACE has identified illegal housing societies in Lahore and other districts of the province during the last three months. “Not only powerful political personalities but officers of LDA and development authorities concerned are also found involved in this illegal business and Additional DG LDA has been arrested.”

The chief minister reiterated that corruption would not be tolerated in the province. “We will be and we will hold everyone accountable for the earning of people’s sweat and blood.”