LAHORE: Payment of a cumulative remuneration of over Rs152m to 506 owners for their 300 kanals of land acquired by Sheikhupura district collector has started for the construction of the Lahore-Karachi Motorway Interchange at Mauza Faizpur Khurd, Dhudian and Saggian Par Kalan.

A spokesman for the office of Punjab Ombudsman Azam Suleman Khan, in a statement on Sunday, said that the landowners had been awaiting compensation for their land since 2016.

Mian Riazuddin and Mansoor Ali of Lahore submitted their applications with the ombudsman office, complaining that payments for their acquired lands had not been made by the government.

They not only sought the rightful payments based on the DC (deputy commissioner) rate but also demanded additional compensation for utilisation of their acquired lands since 2016.

During the proceedings, it was revealed that in addition to the issue of double registration of Khasra numbers, there were some delays in the land acquisition process. Consequently, the ombudsman office informed the board of revenue (BoR) that prima facie there was a lack of oversight in monitoring the performance of land acquisition collectors after their attachments with the provincial government departments.

As a result, substantial funds deposited with the land acquisition collectors’ accounts by the government remain unused, causing delays in compensating the affected individuals.

Therefore, an institutionalised system should be devised by the BoR for monitoring the land acquisition collectors’ performance and ensuring timely payments to the owners of the acquired land.

Through liaison with the offices of commissioner Lahore and deputy commissioner Sheikhupura, the district price assessment committee Sheikhupura has settled the compensation price of the acquired pieces of land and payments to the landowners have started by the office of the assistant commissioner/land acquisition collector Ferozewala, concluded the spokesman.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2023