Financial rut: Railway department auctions land to raise revenue

Encroachers, squatters will be issued notices to vacate; failure will result in demolition of settlements.

PESHAWAR:

In an attempt to remedy the dismal financial standing of the Pakistan Railways, the state-owned corporation has decided to auction its land in the city to generate revenue. The decision comes primarily after the railway department failed to clear its tracks from encroachers.

“We have given the railway property in the city on lease to earn revenue for the department,” said Muhammad Saeed Khan, a railway official, on Monday. Those who have illegal settlements on railway property will be issued notices to vacate and if they fail, they will be forced out and their constructions will be demolished, he added.

The leased railway tracks going through the city have not been used for a few years and the tracks have either become rusty or have been pulled out by scrap collectors. Some people have constructed buildings while majority of the encroachment has been done by street vendors.

There is considerable land on both sides of the railway tracks; 100 feet in residential areas and 50 feet in farming areas. The official said railway authorities and the local administrations have conducted numerous anti-encroachment drives to evict squatters, but there has been little headway.



“We have carried out several of these drives, but have yet to achieve positive results,” said another railway official, requesting anonymity. “We are in a crisis and don’t have the money and heavy machinery to clear the land from encroachments.”

The official added giving the land on lease is a good way of generating revenue. It will be auctioned to the highest bidder and the rent will be revised every year and increased by 20%. The monthly rent will remain fixed at 15% of the property’s market value, the official added.

He refused to provide details of the revenue collected so far from the auctioned land. He also refused to share details of the price paid by the highest bidder and the size of land auctioned, saying they were not allowed to provide this information. He did reveal, however, that most of the land owned by the railway department in Nothia, Board and Karkhano areas was leased to different contractors.

Authorities have set strict conditions on the use of land once it is auctioned. No one is allowed to build a permanent structure and the government has the right to seize the land at its discretion.

“I have further auctioned the land to the squatters on a daily basis,” said contractor Aziz Khan, who won the auction for the Board and Nothia areas. We will vacate the land whenever the authorities demand us to, he added.

Despite the rules, however, people have constructed permanent structures, including houses, shops and parking spaces in Board area, Khan claimed.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 11^th, 2013.