PESHAWAR: A parliamentary sub-committee in a meeting here on Monday expressed dissatisfaction over the failure of the authorities concerned to retrieve 200 acres of state land, worth billions of rupees, allegedly occupied by an influential gang of land grabbers in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The sub-committee of National Assembly Standing Committee on Pakistan Railways also decided to take the relevant officials of provincial government into confidence to ensure recovery of the illegally occupied land at the earliest.

Briefing journalists after the meeting, MNA Ramesh Lal, the convener of the sub-committee, said that the illegally occupied land would be recovered at any cost.

The members of the committee attended the meeting at the office of divisional superintendent of railways where they were briefed about encroachments on railways land, safari train and other issues including plan for restoration of railway track in Khyber Agency.

Accompanied by other members of the committee including Eng Haamidul Haq, Naseema Panezai, Sardar Irfan Dogar and Divisional Superintendent Mohammad Sufyan Sarfraz Dogar, the lawmaker said that members of the committee were visiting different parts of the country to get themselves apprised of the occupied land and devise a plan to retrieve it. In Peshawar, he said, about 12 acres of railways land had been occupied in Haji Camp area for the last 15 years owing to negligence of the previous governments.

Mr Lal said that no one was above the law and authorities needed to take prompt steps to get the land vacated. He said that government was determined to make all possible effort to recover thousands of railways land in the entire country.

“We will hold meetings with all relevant officials to get the railways land vacated from encroachers,” he vowed.

The MNA regretted that railways land had been occupied but officials of the department concerned were unaware in that regard.

Speaking on the occasion, MNA Hamidul Haq said that he had already demanded of the federal government to provide details of the railways land to them and auction the land. “There are hundreds of people working on or alongside railways lands from Peshawar city to Hayatabad. They will pay rent to railways,” he added.

Mr Haq said that paper work for City Circular Railway had been completed. He said that practical work on the project would be started whenever the agreements and memorandums of understanding were inked.

He said that various districts including Charsadda, Nowshera, Mardan and Dargai were part of the project under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). He said that the occupied land would be given to different departments legally to discourage encroachment.

Mr Haq said that railway track in different districts of the province was in place but it was affected owing to negligence.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Dogar said that railways owned 16250 acres in Peshawar division. He said that out of the said land, 350 acres were grabbed by people but 150 acres of the occupied land had been retrieved from them.

The official said that meetings had been held with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor and political agent of Khyber Agency to seek their support in restoration of railway track till Shagai area.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2017