Pindi gears up to recover encroached real estate

Encroachers occupying prime land around railway station

RAWALPINDI:

The Punjab government has approved a massive crackdown against illegal occupants of state land in Rawalpindi.

According to Punjab Parliamentary Secretary Chaudhry Adnan all documents pertaining to the transfer of state land since independence have become suspect due to land grabbing by land mafia backed by influentials, corrupt politicians and revenue officials.

The Rawalpindi administration has also started preparations for the operation, he said. The banks of the Soan River and land belonging to Pakistan Railways will be reclaimed during the grand operation, Adnan told The Express Tribune.

The parliamentary secretary prepared a comprehensive report after compiling records, maps, documents, survey reports and sent it to Prime Minister Imran Khan, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, and Rawalpindi Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE).

The report states land spread over 7,500 kanals and worth Rs325 billion could be recovered in the action.

According to the report, a stretch of 1,160 kanals around Rawalpindi Railway Station worth Rs100 billion, 5,000 kanals state-owned land adjacent to Soan River worth over Rs200 billion and 110 kanal commercial land worth Rs10 billion in Koth Kallan could be repossessed if an effective operation is conducted to evict illegal occupants.

Besides this, another 911 kanals land in Koth Kalan worth Rs30 billion, 27 kanal land worth Rs1 billion in Gulistan Colony, Rs1.5 billion worth of land on different locations could also be recovered during the grand operation.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2020.