Rule of law: Govt takes back 8,896 acres land in Rajanpur

‘100 per cent land recovery target has been achieved in the district’.

LAHORE:

Around 8,896 acres of land belonging to the Forests Department and 6,916 acres of other state land have been retrieved from land grabbers in Rajanpur district between February 4 and May 13, a spokesperson for the provincial government said on Sunday.

“We have achieved 100 per cent target of land recovery in the district,” he said.

He said an action committee comprising Minister for Forests Muhammad Asif Bha, Forests Secretary Major (retd) Sher Alam Mehsood, Dera Ghazi Khan Division Commissioner Amjad Saqib and Rajanpur DCO Ghazi Amanullah had led the operation.



He said they had managed to retrieve land worth billions of rupees in the district. The spokesperson said 1,190 acres of land in Rakh Bait Baghshah, 738 acres in Rakh Kotla Sher Muhammad, 3,007 acres in Rakh Thal Sanghraj, 162 acres in Rakh Dhasa, two acres in Noorpur Sharqi, 256 acres in Noorpur Gharbi, 120 acres in Rakh Bait Sontara, 80 acres in Rakh Bangla, 32 acres in Naseer, 27 acres in Rakh Toong, 23 acres in Midh Moulvi, 91 acres in Naushera, 45 acres in Kotla Eisan, 945 acres in Rakh Khanwah, 40 acres in Raigistan Shumali and 2,034 acres of land in Rakh Azmatwala have been brought under the control of the Forests Department. He said 8,896 acres of this land was very fertile.

Of the 6,923 acres of state land in three villages of Rajanpur, the government has retrieved 6,916 acres of land from land mafia.

The spokesperson said notices had been issued to people who had built houses on the remaining seven acres of land. According to details, 558 acres of state land in Rakh Kotla Sher Muhammad, 5,336 acres in Rakh Kotla Eisan and 1,022 acres land in Rakh Azmatwala has been recovered. Officers and staff members of the Forests Department, the Revenue Department, the police and district administration took part in the operation. “The government is working to establish the writ of the state in tribal areas… we will not permit anyone to grab state land.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2015.