ISLAMABAD, Dec 1 (APP): Pakistan Railways has retrieved some 18 kanals of land worth millions of rupees from the illegal occupants in Peshawar Division during an anti-encroachment operation against the land grabbers. “The operation is launched on the direction of Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique which was supervised by the Divisional Superintendent Peshawar Division,” an official in the Ministry of Railways told APP on Thursday.
He said that the land was retrieved from the area of Peshawar’s Truck Stand, Hayatabad, Karkhano Market and Dalazak Road with the help of the local administration.
The official said that Pakistan Railways had also sealed around 135 shops in different areas of the Peshawar Division due to non-payment of rent to the department.
To a question, he said that the Pakistan Railways’ major portion of around 9,986 acres of land worth billions of rupees were found under illegal occupation of private, individual and different government departments across the country.
“Around 3,287 acres were occupied in Punjab, 832 acres under encroachment in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, 5,180 acres in Sindh and 687 acres land occupied in Balochistan,” he added.
However, he said Pakistan Railways has retrieved as many as 955 acres of its land worth Rs 19,603 million during various anti-encroachment operations across the country in the last five years.
“Around 476 acres retrieved in Punjab, 133 acres in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 327 acres in Sindh and only 19 acres in Balochistan had been retrieved by the Pakistan Railways,” he said.
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 the light of orders 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 that the government 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 railways owned 167,690 acres of land across the country, of which 90,326 acre was in Punjab, 39,428 acre in Sindh, 28,228 acre in Balochistan, and 9,708 acre in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
