QUETTA, Nov 6: Land ownership rights will be given to over 17,000 families living in slum areas on about 2,200 acres of state land in 13 districts of Balochistan.

Chief Jam Mir Mohammad Yousuf announced the decision after a meeting here on Tuesday.

He said the kachi abadis were being regularised in Quetta, Nushki, Sibi, Loralai, Zhob, Lasbela, Gwadar, Killa Abdullah, Ziarat, Bolan, Khuzdar, Mastung and Dera Bugti districts.

He refuted an impression that the government had made the announcement for gaining benefit in the coming elections. The government had formulated the policy four years ago and it had been working on it, he said.

He said all the settlements on the state land would be regularised on the basis of the record of the provincial revenue department and local governments. The chief minister said the government had initiated the process by asking the revenue department to take necessary measures and the revenue records of 12 of the province’s 30 districts had been received.

He said that thousands of more people would be given ownership rights after the records of the remaining districts were received.