LAHORE, March 26: The Punjab government decided on Wednesday to go all out for retrieving its encroached property and take action against the encroachers.

Another decision was to sell the state property after developing it commercially to fund uplift projects.

These decisions were taken at a meeting of the Punjab Privatization Board which was presided over by Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi.

Mr Elahi directed the authorities to take action against the encroachers without caring for their status.

Officials told Dawn that the property that would be sold included public sector sugar mills, state land, the property of the defunct Punjab Road Transport Corporation and rest houses of various departments.

It was considered to commercially develop such property to get high price in the open market through independent agencies like the Nespak.

The DCOs and district Nazims were directed to play their role in retrieving the encroached property and proceed against the encroachers how influential they might be.

The provincial law secretary was asked to actively pursue the cases regarding the encroached property so that it could be reclaimed as soon as possible.

The officials said the meeting agreed that the Board of Revenue’s colonies member should be engaged for resolving the matters relating to the privatization of state property. The load of routine work on the member would be reduced to enable him discharge his new assignment.

The meeting decided to expand the scope of the privatization of the government property to get adequate funds for development activities in the province.

Meanwhile, according to an official handout, the chief minister directed to evolve a comprehensive strategy to sell the government property on a better price.

He directed to conduct a survey throughout the province and prepare a directory of the state land in every district. The directories should also contain information of the unlawfully occupied property and should be made public.

The chief minister said the process of privatization should be transparent and in accordance with the law and relevant rules and regulations.

He directed to reorganize the privatization board to make it more effective, and utilize the maximum funds to be obtained through the privatization of state property.

The chief minister directed the authorities to identify property that could be used for constructing schools, hospitals and other welfare institutions.