November 01, 2006	Wednesday	Shawwal 8, 1427

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KOHAT, Oct 31: The land mafia has reportedly occupied 1.856 million kanals of prime land belonging to the provincial government in the Jarma area, and is conducting illegal property business since 1973, causing a loss of millions of rupees to the province.

Although the land has been illegally occupied, mostly by non-local people, the area has been declared a union council and people have been allowed to take part in elections as registered voters.

According to an estimate, the price of land is more than Rs9 billion if it is auctioned in open market as agriculture land. This does not include the price of areas which can be sold as commercial land. The provincial government has incurred accumulated losses amounting to billions of rupees in lost taxes as the land mafia has been selling land for residential and agriculture purposes since 1973.

Successive governments have, instead of recovering the land from the land mafia and taking legal action against it, always tried to ‘help’ the illegal occupants for political expediencies .

The price of the land has increased ten-fold since the 1990s after the Kohat University and Board of Secondary and Intermediate Education were established on the Jarma Road.

Unscrupulous elements have managed to get illegal electricity and water connections for their houses and agriculture land.

A committee, headed by the provincial education minister was asked by the chief minister to compile a report on Jarma land on Aug 16.

The committee in its report submitted to the chief minister said the land was leased out by the British family to one Mian Badshah of the Banoori family in 1886 for his services in negotiating a peace deal with the Afridi tribe of Darra Adam Khel. Between 1953 and 1973 the land was leased out 14 times but after that the agreements did not renew the lease.

The actual owner is in possession of 1,369 acres and seven kanals and most of the land has been occupied by tribesmen.

In one case, a Bangash family purchased 32 acres for Rs150,000 and got it transferred on a stamp paper with the connivance of the land revenue department.

Between 1979 and 1983, police registered 49 cases against the land grabbers. The case was sent to former governor Fazl-i-Haq in 1986. He constituted a committee to look into the matter.

The committee recommended that the land be disposed of to the occupants at Rs35,000 per four kanals for agriculture and Rs5,000 for uncultivated land. But the occupants refused to buy the land terming the rate high and suggested that they were ready to purchase it at Rs1,000.

The matter was again raised in 2002 and the then governor approved a proposal under which the land was to be auctioned and leased out to those who had purchased it illegally.

The incumbent chief minister against constituted a committee to resolve the matter under pressure from the local MNA and party workers who reside on the land. During his last visit to Lachi town he promised to resolve the matter.

It has been learnt that the committee comprising the provincial education minister, a member of the Board of Revenue, the district collector and a secretary had opposed the recommendations of an earlier committee for leasing out the whole land.

The committee is of the view that the land has become part of the expanding city and the government will require it for construction of schools, colleges, hospitals and other buildings.

The committee expressed the apprehension that if a deal was struck with the land owners the government would have to give away millions of acres on lease in other districts too.

It said it would be wise to recover the land from illegal occupants and lease it to those who had constructed houses on it.

The chief secretary opposed the plan and suggested that all the land should be recovered.

The president of the land owners’ committee, Dr Tehseen, when contacted, said they were ready to buy the land at market rate if the government removed the pre-condition of leasing.

Dr Tehseen who is the nazim of the Jarma union council, said one-fourth of the owners are locals, while others included people from Orakzai Agency, Afridis and Afghan refugees. He said 2,226 homes had been constructed on the land.

He said the land had changed many hands and the business was continuing without any check. “I myself have been residing in the area for 35 years. I have been paying all government taxes. Only a fool will agree to buy again property which was purchased by his father years ago,” he said.

He said the owners would go to the Peshawar High Court against the new leasing terms.

According to the recommendations of yet another committee the whole land would be leased out to the illegal occupants at the market rate after the recovery of dues since 1973. They would not be allowed to construct houses or sell the land. They would be allowed to use it for agriculture only and the government would reserve the right to take the land back.

The land mafia has also constructed illegal buildings near the KDA Township and sold precious commercial property of the tehsil municipal administration and Auqaf department in Bannu bazaar, chicken market and Lakar Mandi.