FAISALABAD, Dec 27: The government has restrained the Punjab Privatization Board from auctioning the Punjab Road Transport Authority (PRTA) land at throwaway price and constituted a committee to probe the matter.

Well placed sources in the PRTA said on Friday the government took serious notice of the “planned auction” of the land to give the land to an influential person of the city.

The government also directed the board to make arrangements for transparent process of auctioning.

The board had announced the auction of eight depots of the PRTA in Sahiwal, Sargodha, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Dera Ghazi Khan, Jampur, Rajanpur and Faisalabad. It fixed Dec 28 for the auction of PRTC bus stand and workshop on the Railway Road, Faisalabad.

It is claimed that an influential person of the city, with the connivance of PRTA staff, planned to purchase the front portion of the plot measuring 12 kanals and 13 marlas through auction. If the land was auctioned, the buyer would be in a position to purchase the remaining part of the 56-kanal plot at low rate.

The board had planned selling of the land a number of times but all efforts failed due to the corruption mafia in the PRTA. In 1988, it planned to sell the land by developing shops but the move also failed.