Residents refuse to vacate site marked for new jail

RAWALPINDI: The construction of the new district jail in Rawalpindi has been deferred once again as residents of the land marked for the construction have clearly refused to vacate it.

The residents expressed that it was an agricultural land which yielded two crops every year.

They said that they would stage a massive protest if the government tried to procure it forcefully and they would also challenge it in the high court.

The residents demanded that the administration locate an alternative barren site for this purpose.

Earlier, the district administration had chosen a 600 kanal site in Jharki which is off the Chak Beli Khan Road.

Moreover, apart from the issues rising in land procurement, the government has also failed to allocate any funds for the construction of a new jail in the upcoming budget owing to which the matter has been temporarily postponed.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16^th, 2019.