With 59,800 acres of Sindh government land occupied by Defence Housing Authority (DHA), Malir Development Authority (MDA) and SPARCO, Sindh government decides to call in Rangers to retrieve the encroached upon land
The provincial government has decided to seek Rangers help in recovering encroached lands across the Sindh province.
The Sindh government authorities had also sought details from different departments regarding encroached lands within their respective jurisdictions.
According to a report submitted by Sindh Board of Revenue (SBR) in Supreme Court of Pakistan on 24 June 2014, 59,800 acres of Sindh government land has been occupied by Defense Housing Authority (DHA), Malir Development Authority (MDA) and Sparco.
It stated that out of the total 59803 acres of encorached land, 52130 acres were under institutional encroachment while 2864 acres have been retrieved so far. The apex court asked Sindh government to retrieve the encroached land within six months.
According to sources, Advocate General Sindh had written a letter to chief Secretary Sindh, Commissioner Karachi, seven deputy commissioners of Karachi and Hyderabad and secretary forest for details regarding encroached lands.
The letter had asked officials concerned to submit details of government officials and other people involved in occupying state land. The names of the people or groups involved in occupying land would be submitted to the apex court, which had directed the provincial government to eliminate encroachments from government lands within six months.
The provincial government had also decided to take action against encroachers occupying parks, welfare plots, and other important places. The government had also decided to take action against political groups involved in occupying government land and register cases against them with the help of anti-encroachment cell.
According to sources, the police will be part of the action against encroachers but the provincial authorities has decided to rely on Rangers as the police personnel were found involved in assisting criminals in past, which created difficulties for the anti-encroachment officials to carry out operation successfully.
Meanwhile, a Rangers official told PPI that they were ready to assist provincial authorities in removing encroachments from government lands in the province. He said that they had not yet received such order, however, if the provincial government asked for help, they were ready to assist them.
Comments are closed.