LAHORE: The entire administration in Punjab was asked on Wednesday to detect benami property by Sept 30 as is desired by the prime minister or face the music.

All divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners, were also warned of action if they failed to do the needful by the deadline set by the prime minister at a meeting of the Provincial Anti-Benami Committee presided over by Law Minister Raja Basharat and attended by Chief Secretary Yousaf Nasim Khokhar here at the Civil Secretariat.

A team of senior officials of the federal government including Director General Benami-II of Board of Revenue Asim Ahmad, Commissioner Benami Zone II Lahore Khalid Khan and others taught the provincial officers how to detect benami property.

The commissioners and the deputy commissioners briefed the meeting via video conference.

The minister said public support should also be sought through wide publicity for identifying benami properties. The provincial officers given the responsibility should closely liaise with the relevant FBR officers to achieve the stated goals. The excise department and the Punjab Special Branch should also be included in the process.

The chief secretary directed all the commissioners and deputy commissioners to submit a progress report and obstacles faced in this regard within two days.

Mr Asim Ahmed said the task of the commissioners and deputy commissioners was to identify and report only benami properties. The investigation was to be conducted by the FBR. He said the FBR officers were fully supporting the Punjab departments and guidelines were being provided.

The FBR team gave a detailed briefing on the Benami Act, information acquisition and reporting procedures.

Meanwhile, presiding over a meeting the chief secretary ordered best of the best arrangements for the upcoming 550th birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak next month.

The meeting reviewed progress on the Kartarpur Corridor project. The chief secretary said the government was committed to promotion of religious tourism, adding that Sikh pilgrims would get easier access to the gurdwara through the Kartarpur corridor.

He ordered the authorities to finalise security and other arrangements for the event of the birth anniversary at the earliest. The meeting was attended by BoR senior member, secretary planning and development, commissioner and regional police officer of Gujranwala and the officials concerned.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2019