Karachi: A massive 149,235 acres of forest land remains illegally occupied since the last five years, a news source quoted Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah. He said this during the question-answer session in the Sindh Assembly.
Dadu district tops the list of illegally occupied forest lands with 27,566 acres. Benazirabad comes in a close second where 24,161 acres of forest land remain under land grabbers.
Moreover, 23,715 acres have been occupied in Sukkur, 19,271 acres in Hyderabad, 12,238 acres in Larkana, 17,477 acres in Khairpur and 7,879 acres in Kandhkot.
The provincial government has so far vacated 15,377 acres of forest land from illegal occupants with the assistance of Rangers, police and district administration.
In Thatta, the chief minister said, the authorities have recovered 1,355 acres out of 4,699 acres and the campaign against land mafia is in full swing.
He told the house that the provincial government has initiated several rehabilitation schemes to protect mangrove forests, conserving 90,000 hectares in the Indus Delta after SUPARCO identified that mangroves cover an area extending over 107,640 hectares.
