ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Railways has stepped up efforts to acquire a large portion of around 13,972 acres of land worth billions of rupees found under illegal occupation by private individuals and various government offices across the country.
“Around 5,809 acres have been encroached in Punjab, 1,181 acres are under encroachment in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 5,948 acres in Sindh and 1,034 acres of land encroached in Balochistan,” a ministry official told APP on Sunday.
He said the category of land under illegal occupation includes commercial, residential, agricultural and various persons or entities.
Giving the details of the lands, the official said that around 769 acres were commercial in all provinces, 3,309 were residential, 5,512 were agricultural and 4,382 were under the encroachment of various persons or departments.
The official said the ministry has also decided to speed up its ongoing anti-land grabbing operation across the country to reclaim its land from various individuals, groups and even business organizations that have been using it for residential, commercial and agricultural purposes for decades.
“All divisional superintendents of Pakistan Railways have been issued orders to move together to recover the railway land from the encroachers,” the official added.
Accordingly, he said that the concerned divisions are launching anti-encroachment operations to reclaim the disturbed railway land across the railway network and notices are being issued to the encroachers under the Property Ordinance, 1965 to vacate the railway land/structure within 14 days.
The official said that the Pakistan Railway Police, district administration and law enforcement agencies are being informed for necessary assistance in anti-intrusion operations. Pakistan Railways owned 167,690 acres of land across the country, including 90,326 acres in Punjab, 39,428 acres in Sindh, 28,228 acres in Balochistan and 9,708 acres in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
