LAHORE, Jan 7: Only 2.14 per cent land owners are paying the agricultural income tax in the Punjab while the remaining have been exempted from it by the provincial government by doubling the exemption limit.

Punjab Revenue Minister Gul Hamid Rokri stated this at a press conference at the Board of Revenue office here on Wednesday. Colonies Minister Manazar Ali Ranjha was also present on the occasion.

Mr Rokri said the majority of land owners had been exempted from the tax after the exemption limit was raised from five acres irrigated and 12.5 acres rain fed land to 10 acres and 25 acres, respectively. There were 23,910,995 acres of cultivable land in the province which was owned by 10,215,699 farmers, he added.

When asked about the recovery of Ushr entrusted to the BoR in 1994, he first said it had been abolished. He then agreed to furnish the recovery figures but they were not provided till the conclusion of the press conference an hour later.

He said only Rs258 million tax had been recovered against a Rs400 million target during the past one year. The target could not be achieved because the owners had started dividing their holdings among their family members to bring the land within the exemption limit. The income was expected to decrease further with the passage of time on this account. The government was considering imposition of tax on family to check decrease in income due to division of land holdings.

Similarly, he said only Rs607 million could be recovered under water cess against the target of Rs970 million. Water rate was fixed at flat rate of Rs85 per acre for kharif, Rs50 per acre for rabi crops and Rs250 per acre for gardens.

About the performance of the Punjab Land Commission, the minister said only 109,365 acres of land was available for allotment of the remaining 211,562 acres left with the commission after allotment made earlier. Litigation was going on for 76,660 acres of land and 25,537 could not be allotted as it was in the mountainous regions.

He said 1,161,519 acres of land had been allotted of 1,268,808 acres resumed under Martial Law Regulation No 64. Of 263,168 acres resumed under MLR No 115 the peasants had been allotted 211,894 acres. Of 118,358 acres land resumed under the 1977 Act, 83,359 acres had been allotted.

He said nearly 50 per cent of the allottable land was situated in Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur districts.He said land revenue recoveries had exceeded the target. The BoR had collected Rs924 million against Rs861 million. The BoR had decided 42 per cent more cases than the last year reducing the number of pending cases to 8,075.

He said 20,694 revenue estates had been consolidated since the commencement of consolidation in 1960. Consolidation work had been taken up in 391 villages during the past decade. Work had been completed in 138 and was held up in 25 due to status quo ordered by courts. Consolidation was in progress in 228 villages and was nearing completion in 51 others.

He said three new tehsils, Ahmadpur Sial, Kot Momin and Dina, had been notified during the past one year whereas creation of Sambrial tehsil and Haveli Lakha sub-tehsil were underway. As many as 52 new revenue estates were being created in Jhelum. Ten schemes had been included in the 2003-04 ADP.

Mr Rokri said the Settlement and Rehabilitation Laws were repealed in 1975 but nearly 2,000 petitions under the law were still pending with the High Court and Supreme Court.

He claimed that the revenue department had resumed 7,052 kanals of land worth Rs1 billion from unauthorized occupants during the past one year. He said the markup on loans under the Kissan Dost Scheme had been reduced from 13 per cent to 9 per cent and from 13 per cent to 11 per cent on Kissan Development Schemes. As many as 2,482 tents, 4,071 blankets 731 boats, 7,608 life jackets, 18 pumps and seven generators had been acquired for flood relief operations during the past one year. The federal government had allocated Rs1 billion for flood rescue operations by the army.

He said a project had been started for computerization of land record in Lahore city district. It would be replicated in other districts in the event of success. The computerization of the entire record of the province would take 20 to 25 years. A delegation would also visit India for study of their land record computerization.

He said 29 of 72 corruption cases had been decided. Allegation in 15 were found baseless, while four tehsildars had been dismissed on corruption charges. As many as 53 naib tehsildars were reinstated after inquiries last year. The minister said the revenue record of Lahore, which had been destroyed in a fire in 1998, was being compiled afresh.