LAHORE: The government on Thursday excluded 1,828 kanals located in mauzas of Sheikhupura district from the land acquisition process for the Ravi Riverfront Urban Development Project.

The measure was doe due to the double entry of khasra numbers in the notification issued on January 8 under section 5 of the Land Acquisition Act of 1862, Dawn has learnt.

According to a notification by the Lahore commissioner, the Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA) Chairman (acquiring agency), the Land Acquisition Collector of Ruda and the collector (Sheikupura) on Thursday, 1,828 kanals and five marlas of the 36,662 kanals have been excluded from the land acquisition process.

Earlier on Jan 8, the government enforced section 5 under the Land Acquisition Act of 1894, notifying chunks of land required on a priority basis for the Ravi Riverfront Urban Development Project within revenue limits of Sheikhupura and Lahore city districts.

The land identified in Lahore and notified through a notification signed by the Lahore commissioner, district collector, additional deputy commissioner (revenue), Ravi Urban Development Authority chairman and RUDA land acquisition collectors-1 and 2 consists of over 2,562 kanals and 12 Marla situated in seven mauzas.

This included 117 kanals and eight marlas (Mauza Harnaralnpura), seven kanals and 11 marlas (Jia Musa), 300 kanals and 13 marlas (Bhamma), 300 kanals (Targarh), 37 kanals and 17 marlas (Shahdara), 1,226 kanals (Hardo Jabo) and 573 kanals and three marlas (Karolwar), totaling 2,562 kanals and 12 marlas.

“The process [land acquisition] starts with section 4 of the act, followed by section 5, 5-A, 6 to 12, 12-A to 16, etc involving various steps,” said an official source.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2021