KARACHI, Dec 13: The Pakistan Railways has started construction and repair of the boundary of its marshalling yard in Pipri on National Highway to safeguard the PR land retrieved from land-grabbers after a major operation on Tuesday morning, a PR release said.

On the directive of the Ministry of Railways, some 200 acres of precious land belonging to the Pakistan Railways was retrieved from the possession of “land mafia” in a major operation carried out by hundreds of law-enforcement agencies personnel. The force was drawn from the railway police, district police and the rangers to carry out the operation on Tuesday morning.

The PR claimed that hundreds of armed people supported by “mafia gangsters” had occupied the land worth over Rs4 billion and spread over 6.5kms between Badal Nala to Gaddar Stations on the night of Nov 28/29 and had started construction work and allotment of plots carved out from the land.

According to the PR release, the railway has now set up three permanent armed check-posts to protect the land, besides raising the boundary wall.

Moreover, it has introduced a surveillance system to check any attempt by the mafia to grab the land again and also to protect the sensitive vital installations of the department.

Earlier, two big operations launched by the PR authorities with the help of railway and district police had failed due to the armed resistance put up by the encroachers, the release said.

However, with the additional support of Rangers, the PR succeeded in getting the land retrieved in the latest operation that lasted three to four hours during which an exchange of fire also took place, it added.—APP