ISLAMABAD, Mar 21 (APP): Around 4,789.08 acres commercial, residential and agriculture land of Pakistan Railways is encroached by public institutions and private persons in all over the country.
As many as 437.08 acres land was under illegal occupation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 1,361.1 acres in Punjab, 2,377.59 acres in Sindh and 613.31 acres in Balochistan province, an official in the Ministry told APP.
He said Pakistan Railways has also retrieved around 439.8 acres precious land worth billion of rupees from private individuals under its anti-encroachment operation across the country during last two and half years.
“The encroachment operation has been launched with the assistance of railway police and district administrations under the supervision of relevant Divisional Superintendents,” he added.
Giving details, he said the department retrieved 230.33 acres land in Punjab, 115.92 acres from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 81.81 acres from Sindh and 11.74 acres from Balochistan.
The official said that out of the total land, 66.687acres were commercial, 285.9 acres residential and 87.213 acres agricultural land of the Pakistan Railways.
He said the government was taking several steps to retrieve encroached land from the land grabbers including carrying out detailed survey to identify the encroached land, occupied by the individuals and under illegal occupation of various government departments.
The Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and joint procedure order have been issued since for strict implementation of this policy, the official added.
He said that First Information Reports (FIRs) were being lodged and cases were registered against encroachers and sent to Pakistan Railways 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.
He said it was an ongoing campaign which would continue till the elimination and regularization of encroachments.
The official said Pakistan Railways owns 167,690 acres of land across the country, of which 90,326-acre is in Punjab, 39,428-acre in Sindh, 28,228-acre in Balochistan and 9,708-acre in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
