LAHORE, Dec 12: An anti-encroachment squad of the Pakistan Railways had to suspend its drive against illegal structures built on the railway land after it confronted powerful people in the caretaker setup.

The squad backed by a heavy contingent of the railway and city police launched the operation on Wednesday morning from the Cantonment railway station towards Kot Lakhpat and onwards facing zero resistance from the local people.

The team demolished kiosks, barns, extensions to houses and shops at decades-old Basti Allah Hu and Gandhi Park. The squad led by PR Land and Property Director Akhtar Mahmood Khattak also confiscated construction material dumped on the railway land by some residents.

“The federal railways minister has asked us to remove all encroachments along the railway lines and I have been asked to do the needful up to Sahiwal,” Mr Khattak told Dawn.

While supervising the demolition of a 25-year-old cattle ranch near Gandhi Park, Mr Kamal admitted that railways authorities had neglected the issue of encroachments in the past and now the trend of occupying its land was mushrooming.

He remained resolute and determined when the affected people sent an SOS call to Moonis Elahi, the son of former chief minister and candidate from this area, and he sent his aides Danish Khan and Azhar Lodhi to persuade Mr Khattak to halt the operation. Later, the emissaries disappeared promising compensation to the affected people.

When the squad reached near the installations owned by a caretaker federal minister, the mobile phone of Mr Khattak started ringing. He received a lot of calls from Islamabad to stop the operation which were responded by him with flat refusal. However, the anti-encroachment drive ended when he got orders from Railways General Manager Asad Saeed, who asked him to discontinue the operation and leave the spot at once.

He left the venue, saying now he was really helpless.

According to locals, the operation is much needed as railway lines have disappeared under the heaps of dung as a number of ranches are operative (along the rails).

Syed Ali Hasan Naqvi of Jinnah Park said the ranch owners used to pay Rs100 each to the railway officials and the corporation officials for each buffalo. He said ranches along the track were a constant danger to the rail traffic as well as the locals. He said a month ago, a buffalo died under the train near

Hasnainabad but its owner sold its flesh to some butcher. He said he had seen such an operation by the railways for the first time in his life but he feared soon the cattle would be back to their old pens.