LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau in collaboration with the Punjab Board of Revenue (BoR) has retrieved 25,444 kanal land worth Rs433 billion from illegal occupation.

NAB Lahore Director General Mirza Faran Baig and SMBR Nabeel Javed told a press conference on Friday that through aggressive field enforcement, verification of revenue records, demarcation processes and coordinated actions, vast stretches of high-value agricultural and commercial land was retrieved and restored to state ownership across multiple districts of Punjab.

“With land recoveries valued at Rs 433 billion, the operation marks a major enforcement milestone in the protection of public property and state resources. The successful resumption of 25,444 kanal land reflects institutional coordination at an unprecedented scale between NAB Lahore and the Board of Revenue Punjab,” the NAB DG said and added the campaign had established a strong enforcement framework for reclaiming encroached state land and lawful control over public assets through sustained accountability and administrative action.

A joint task force has been constituted by the government of Punjab, with the specific mandate to retrieve state land from illegal possession, and to devise a transparent model for its lawful disposal in collaboration with BoR. The task force is pursuing encroachments and ensuring that all retrieved land is disposed of through documented, `auditable’ procedures. Both institutions urged citizens to support the joint task force by reporting illegal occupation of state land through the official Complaint Management Portal.

In a joint operation, NAB and BoR coordinate at an ‘unprecedented scale’

The NAB and BoR have reaffirmed their commitment to continuing their collaboration through the joint task force to ensure the protection, retrieval, and transparent utilization of state land for the benefit of the people of Punjab. “Following the success of the Punjab model, a similar task force has already been established in Sindh, while the process of constituting one in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is underway,” the DG said.

According to him, the successful operation in Punjab was carried out through effective inter-agency coordination with the BoR and district administrations, resulting in the recovery of vast tracts of state land from illegal occupation. He further said that in several cases, illegal occupation of state land had been facilitated through the misuse of ostensibly legitimate documentation.

“Investigations have also uncovered the involvement of certain revenue officials in facilitating encroachments on public land. Such officials, along with private individuals, have been identified and will be proceeded against in accordance with the law. He emphasized that NAB’s objective extends beyond the recovery of land and includes targeting the entire network of land grabbers and their facilitators,” he said.

The NAB DG said between 2023 and 2026, it secured record recoveries amounting to Rs 15.6 trillion. “During 2025 alone, NAB facilitated the return of Rs180 billion to more than 115,000 affectees. NAB Lahore secured recoveries worth Rs 263.096 billion during 2025 and distributed recovered amounts among 61,700 claimants. NAB Lahore is currently investigating several large-scale public fraud cases involving 81,090 affectees, with estimated financial losses of Rs 124 billion,” he said.

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2026