Encroachers occupy land reserved for police station
Land grabbers square off against locals. PHOTO: EXPRESS
Rawalpindi City Police Officer (CPO) has written a formal letter to the Deputy Commissioner (DC) for demarcation of state land allotted for the Airport police station in the Rehmatabad area encroached by land grabbers, sources told The Express Tribune.
The letter stated that the land earmarked for the Airport police station should be handed over to Rawalpindi Police.
Meanwhile, sources added that the management of a high school has also written a letter to DC for identification of the valuable state land worth billions of rupees supposed to be ownership of the school.
Longer custody of land grabber sought
Following the letter, DC Anwarul Haq has issued strict instructions to the revenue department and the military land administration to start preparations for drawing boundaries of all related identified lands.
The land was previously used as a military firing range. However, in 1982, the ex-President General Ziaul Haq created a new residential area for poor families in Rehmatabad and handed over its control to the Punjab government.
The area was earmarked for the airport police station, high school, cemetery, and Imambargah however it was grabbed by the land mafia. Now, after 38 years, the demarcation work has been started.
The administration will conduct a large-scale anti-encroachment operation to recover the valuable land after assessing boundaries.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 19th, 2021.