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ISLAMABAD: The government has managed to retrieve 3,500 acres of encroached upon land of Pakistan Railways (PR) over the past three and a half years but another 4,300 acres across the country are still under “illegal occupation”.
Over 80 per cent of the encroached upon land is in Punjab and Sindh provinces. Besides “private individuals”, a number of government departments and defence organisations have allegedly occupied PR land without authorisation.
This information is contained in the documents placed before the Senate by the railways ministry in response to a question put by Daud Khan Achakzai of the Awami National Party.
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The documents show that out of a total of 4,301.65 acres of encroached upon land, 2,282 acres are in Punjab, 1,147 acres in Sindh, 620 acres in Balochistan and about 253 acres in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“Private” individuals are illegally occupying about 3,510 acres whereas 540 acres and 251 acres are under the occupation of various government departments and defence organisations, respectively.
Defence organisations and Rangers have occupied PR land in Rawalpindi, Lahore, Khanewal, Bahawalnagar and Mansura in Punjab; Malir (Karachi) in Sindh; Kohat, Hangu and Peshawar in KP; and Chaman, Dalbandin and Harnai in Balochistan.
The documents show that 55.5 acres are under illegal occupation of the Army’s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi “since long”.
Similarly, a “Railways rest house” spreading over two acres has been “under the use of military intelligence” at Fort Abbas “since before 1979”. On the other hand, Rangers have been occupying 70 acres of land at Mansura Yard since before 1980.
In Punjab, the Revenue Department, Attock, has occupied 95.56 acres, followed by 55 acres by the Judicial Complex in Jaranwala. Local authorities in Jaranwala have established the Benazir Park on 32 acres of PR land.
In Sindh, the Water and Power Development Authority has occupied 29.14 acres in Rohri, Sukkur and Sehwan Sharif. The provincial departments of food and education are also among the encroachers.
In KP, the Frontier/National Highway Authority has occupied 138 acres in Bannu, Gambila Serai and Hangu. The provincial health department is utilising 22.33 acres of PR land in Nowshera.
The railways ministry launched an anti-encroachment campaign in February 2012 on the directives of the Supreme Court in a suo motu case and a total of 3498.57 acres of land were retrieved or regularised till Nov 30 this year. Of the retrieved land, 966.77 acres have been retrieved during the tenure of the PML-N government, says the ministry.
Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2015
