LAHORE: A number of residents of different villages on Sunday staged a protest demonstration against the government for what they said forcibly acquiring their land for the Ravi Riverfront Urban Development Project.

Holding placards, the protesters chanted slogans against the government and termed Prime Minister Imran Khan ‘head of land mafia’.

They regretted that the area, which is rich in production of the fresh vegetables and fruits being supplied to the provincial capital Lahore and other cities, was being taken over by the government for the project, which they alleged would only benefit the land mafia.

They said the rulers were trying to occupy their lands in the name of the Land Acquisition Act which was not acceptable to them.

The land owners and residents said the government issued section 5 for the construction of a lake in the area and acquisition of land, but it had not yet given them certified copies of section 5 and the project’s master plan, in a bid to “keep the affectees in the dark”.

“Land acquisition act only allows the acquisition of land for the public interest,” said Haji Abdul Ghani, a local grower, while addressing the participants in the first protest rally organised by the Ravi Urban Development Victims Committee at Babakwal village near Lahore on Sunday.

“There is no provision in the law to acquire people’s land and build housing societies or handing it over to the land mafia,” he added.

The protesters said the land along the river Ravi was being falsely declared barren by the government.

“We appeal to rulers, to appoint an independent commission to survey the area again and see how fertile these lands are. We are ready to give our lands for channelising the river and for lake in the public interest, but we won’t surrender our lands for establishing housing societies,” said Mian Mustafa Rashid, the convener of the committee.

“Previous governments too tried to launch this project, but could’t work on it because of the public concerns and reports of environmental pollution it would cause,” he said.

Sheikh Tariq, Chaudhry Rafiq, Nazir Awan, Mehr Azeem, Chaudhry Mahmood, Chaudhry Saleem Altia, Chaudhry Sajjad and Malik Amir also addressed the protesters.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2021