Bid to retrieve forest land fails
MUZAFFARGARH: Mud houses started appearing on the barren land along Muzaffargarh-Dera Ghazi Khan Road 10 or 12 years ago.
Some influential people of the city sold this Forest Department’s land plot by plot. Soon streets and chowks appeared in the locality, which had even no name.
People started calling it Tibba Karimabad and Behari Colony. MNA Jamshed Dasti supplied electricity and gas to the localities in 2012.
On Tuesday, when the district government sent demolition squads to these areas, scores of people, led by Mr Dasti, resisted them and later blocked the road for hours.
About 2,000 families have occupied the forest land with the active support of politicians, land grabbers and forest department officials. The police along with forest teams had to suspend the operation.
Deputy Commissioner Qaiser Saleem was on leave, while Assistant Commissioner Ashraf Gujjar said that the operation would be done at all cost.
One of the residents said many forest officials were involved in the establishment of Tibba Karimabad and Behari Colony localities, who sold the land at Rs10,000 per marla on stamp papers. At that time, no action was taken against them.
When the operation teams arrived in the localities, the families showed them stamp papers.
One of the protesters, Nazim Meerzada said he was the driver of bulldozer in the agriculture department. He bought 10 marlas in Tibba Karimabad 10 years ago on a stamp paper.
PPP MNA Mehr Irshad Sial also arrived at the scene and asked the protesters to be peaceful and wait for the deputy commissioner.
Mr Dasti claimed the localities were declared katchi abadis, which were exempted from the operation. He said the residents would not vacate the land.
He demanded the Muzaffargarh administrations retrieve land from influential people near Taunsa and Punjnad barrages where thousands acres were under illegal use.
Forest Department officials said they wrote letters to senior officials and the deputy commissioner for taking action against Mr Dasti and land occupiers.
Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2018
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