Bahawalpur: At least 1,600 kanals of state land worth PKR 1 billion have been recovered from illegal occupants in Hasilpur tehsil, a news source reported. The land had been under illegal possession for years and Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) had filed an FIR against it.
The revenue department had cancelled the allotment in 1968 but the culprits fraudulently managed to register the land for PKR 3.6 million the same year.
The department later failed to implement the orders of former district collector who cancelled the fake registration in December 2012.
Authorities had earlier retrieved several chunks of land measuring over 84,000 acres from land-grabbers. This was disclosed during a meeting presided over by Chief Minister Usman Buzdar that was held to review progress on the ongoing operation against land-grabbers and encroachments.
The total worth of the land recovered was estimated at PKR 145 billion. The authorities removed 22,156 temporary and demolished 20,722 permanent encroachments besides retrieving 84,000 acres of land from land grabbers.
On his part, the chief minister reiterated the government’s resolve to retrieve land from powerful land mafias.
