LAHORE, Nov 22: Punjab Colonies Minister Mian Manazar Ali Ranjha has said that land mafia is in possession of 280,848 acre state land in the province valuing Rs56.17 billion.

Disclosing this while announcing the publication of the first-ever Punjab State Land Directory here on Monday, the minister said that the details had come to light during the compilation of the data of 11,898,431 acre state land in the province.

He said that a comprehensive policy was being formulated for retrieving the land and a law would be promulgated to this effect. Mr Ranjha said the directory compiled under the directions of Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi contained the data of all the state land in every district in Punjab along with the details of the land under possession of the mafia.

He said the directory also contained the details like total area and area under cultivation, population, occupations, mineral resources and information about educational facilities and industries in every district.