Hot property: 20% of Auqaf dept land encroached

PESHAWAR:

Around 20% of the land owned by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Auqaf, Hajj, Religious and Minority Affairs department is occupied illegally across the province.

According to a report submitted with the K-P Assembly standing committee, the department owns around 49,470 kanals of which over 10,000 kanals have been encroached by the land grabbing mafia. Though, other government departments are also involved in the murky business and have occupied approximately 700 kanals and 105 shops illegally.

The department is also yet to reclaim an additional 36,000 kanals in light of an order of the Supreme Court in June 2014, given in response to a petition filed 20 years ago.

Meanwhile, in the provincial capital, department-owned land is held by the Peshawar cantonment board and the education department.

Notices have been issued to all occupants, however, the delay is apparently due to a lack of support from law-enforcement agencies and the civil administration itself.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2015.