RR project victims facing hardships in land retrieval
Owners who had sold their land to the government for the now-stalled Rawalpindi Ring Road project continue to face hardships in getting back possession of their ancestral land after the revocation of the road project last year.
Land worth over Rs2 billion had been acquired in 41 villages of Rawalpindi and Attock districts for the Ring Road project, however, following reports of corruption in the project, the land acquisition was cancelled. Later, recoveries were made from the owners, who had been given compensation against the land acquisition.
Almost one-and-a-half-year has passed since the de-notification of the project but the land acquired from 41 moazas has not yet been returned to the owners. The landowners, despite returning the compensation sum to the authorities, have not been given possession rights back. Hundreds of affected persons of the project said that they face humiliation at the hands of officials at the Rawalpindi commissioner, deputy commissioner and ADCR offices during their visit seeking to reclaim the ownership of their ancestral land.
The affected persons, who spoke to The Express Tribune, said that they will soon launch a protest movement against the indifference of the Rawalpindi administration. More than 6-kilometre-long land belonging to the residents of Banth Mor and Awanabad areas of Rawalpindi had been acquired by the government under Section 4 and later after the inauguration of the ring road project by former prime minister Imran Khan, the land was transferred to the Punjab government.
Sources said that after the ring road scandal surfaced in April last year, the then federal and provincial governments de-notified the Rawalpindi ring road project. After the de-notification, Rawalpindi and Attock district administrations contacted the land owners and started recovering the money, withdrawing the transfer of land. Dozens of victims told The Express Tribune that they have returned compensation amount to the government.
The victims claimed that they visit the offices of the district administration and the Rawalpindi Development Authority almost every day but the officials treat them disdainfully. They demanded that the Punjab government provided them justice and return their land. They alleged that Project Director Saqib Manan, who succeeded former Commissioner Syed Gulzar Hussain Shah, has also failed to provide justice to them.
The affected people said that all the officers involved in the alleged ring road scam were declared innocent after the inquiry but they were still waiting for justice. Commissioner Rawalpindi and Project Director Saqib Manan, Deputy Commissioner Captain Retired Shoaib Ali were contacted several times to take their version on the issue, but they did not reply.
A senior officer of Rawalpindi Development Authority, on condition of anonymity, said that the project director has held a meeting in the commissioner's office a few days ago. He said that the officers concerned from across the division, the land directorate of RDA and other offices participated in the meeting.