July 27, 2007	Friday	Rajab 11, 1428

FAISALABAD, July 26: The revenue department’s inaction against people who have encroached upon over 3,900 acres of state land in the city and its suburbs has perturbed the district government, Dawn has learnt.

Sources said the Punjab government had told the district revenue department a couple of months ago to take action against those who had illegally occupied 3,955 acres of state land, but the department did nothing in this regard.

Official documents reveal that land grabbers have encroached upon 1,696 acres of state land in Jaranwala, over 42 acres in Faisalabad city, 589 acres in Samundri, 1,088 acres in Tandlianwala and over 539 acres in Chak Jhumra.

The revenue department recently told the government that it had retrieved over 222 acres of state so far - 35 acres in Jaranwala and over 187 acres in Chak Jhumra.

This slow action irked the government, which told the department through the Faisalabad district coordination officer (DCO) to speed up the campaign against land grabbers or be ready to face action.

Sources said that a letter was sent to deputy district officers for revenue (DDORs) through the district officer for revenue (DOR), expressing concern over their failure in retrieving the occupied state land.

The letter reads, “It is regretted that nothing visible has been done at your end (against the land grabbers). It is brought to your notice that the DCO has taken a serious view of this lapse on part of revenue department functionaries. He wants an effective campaign against land grabbers at all levels in accordance with the guidelines already communicated.”

The letter asked the officials concerned to engage patwaris and kanungos in this campaign and warned that action would be taken against revenue officials if the state land was occupied in their areas in future.

Sources said that DDORs had been made in-charge of the campaign, while the DOR would monitor and supervise this campaign.

A revenue official said most officials at the helm of affairs at his department were ready to start a campaign against land grabbers, but police were not cooperating. He said that some revenue officials were beaten up recently when they tried to retrieve land from encroachers. He said that political interference was another factor affecting the campaign against land grabbers.

A couple of months ago, DCO Azam Suleman transferred all 126 patwaris to eliminate their influence or collusion with land grabbers, but the step did not yield results.

Executive District Officer for Revenue Muhammad Ali Baloch said the campaign against land grabbers was in progress and added that some revenue officials were punished for not performing their duties efficiently. He skipped the question that how many acres of land had been occupied by politicians or government officials and what was the status of the retrieved land. He said the revenue department was facing problems because most occupants of the state land had moved courts to stay their occupation.