LAHORE: Deputy commissioners in Punjab have unearthed 741 benami properties in the province, and have been given another three months by the federal government to complete the task of unearthing all such properties.

The federal government had earlier asked the Punjab government to task its deputy commissioners with detecting all benami properties in the province by Sept 30. But Chief Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar had requested the deadline be extended because of the enormity of the task.

He announced the extension in the deadline to Dec 31 at a meeting which he presided over here at the Civil Secretariat on Tuesday.

The meeting was informed that all the deputy commissioners had detected 741 benami properties, mainly in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Gujranwala. As per the federal government directions, each deputy commissioner is required to convey his or her findings to the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) for further identifying the real owners. Punjab’s senior member Board of Revenue (FBR) is supervising the entire exercise.

741 more of such properties found across province

The meeting also discussed matters relating to controlling prices and smog, utilisation of funds for uplift projects and timely resolution of complaints referred by the Overseas Pakistanis Commission Punjab and the Pakistan Citizen Portal.

Mr Khokhar said benami assets undermined Pakistan’s interests at international level and the task of identifying them should be carried out as a national responsibility. People’s cooperation should also be sought through wide publicity for making this campaign a success. He asked the authorities concerned to maintain close liaison with the FBR for achieving the desired goals, besides regular submission of progress reports.

He further said that the crackdown on profiteers and hoarders should continue indiscriminately throughout the province. The meeting was told that in September, 1,137 profiteers had been arrested and 1,091 cases registered against them, besides imposition of a fine of about Rs37 million.

The chief secretary also ordered for implementation of standard operating procedures to combat smog and timely completion of development schemes in districts. The meeting was informed that there was no threat of smog in Punjab in the next two weeks. Expected rain from Friday could also tackle its formation. The incident of burning crop residue in the Indian and Pakistani Punjabs too was low as compared to last year.

The government intended to close down brick kilns for some time as a measure to control local contributions to smog. Those in the red zone comprising 18 districts, including Lahore, would be completely shut down.

The environment secretary said that through Section 144 burning of crop residue, municipal solid waste, tyres, plastic, rubber and leather items had been banned in Punjab. The old-fashioned coal-fired brick kilns would also be closed from Nov 1 to Dec 31 across the province, he added.

The chief secretary earlier asked for the redressal of complaints of overseas Pakistanis on priority. He asked the deputy commissioners to ensure their presence in meetings of overseas Pakistani committees set up in districts and early disposal of their pending complaints.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2019