By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Railways has retrieved as many as 1,028 acres of its land worth millions of rupees from illegal occupants during various anti-encroachment operations across the country.
“A many as 503 acres retrieved in Punjab, 151 acres in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 341 acres in Sindh and only 33 acres in Balochistan,” an official in the Ministry of Railways stated.
He said that about 3,287 acres in Punjab, 832 acres in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 5,180 acres in Sindh, and 687 acres of land in Balochistan were being encroached. The official said that in light of the directives of the Supreme Court, the anti-encroachment operations for retrieval of encroached railway land all over the Railway network were initiated and a joint procedure order was issued to all divisional superintendents for retrieval of Railways land from encroachment.
“The anti-encroachment schedules, on a three months basis, are being prepared and sent to all concerned in line with the joint procedure order,” the official added. He said Pakistan Railways had also decided to accelerate its ongoing anti-encroachment operation against land grabbers across the country to recoup its land from different individuals, groups, and even business organizations who were using it for residential, commercial, and agriculture purposes for decades.
“The encroachment operation will be launched with the assistance of Railway Police and district administrations of the relevant provincial governments,” he added.
He said the organization was taking several steps to retrieve encroached land from the land grabbers including a detailed survey being carried out to identify the encroached land, occupied by the individuals and under illegal occupation by various government departments.
The official said that First Information Reports (FIRs) were being lodged and cases were registered and sent to PR Judicial Magistrates for expeditious trial.
The issue regarding illegal occupation and possession of Pakistan Railways’ land by government departments and institutions has also been taken up with the concerned departments, he added.
The official said PR owned 167,690 acres of land across the country, of which 90,326 acres was in Punjab, 39,428 acres in Sindh, 28,228 acres in Balochistan, and 9,708 acres in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
