Showing zero tolerance against illegal state land grabbers across the country, Pakistan Railways has so far vacated over 3,498 acres of its land from encroachers in a period of almost four years.
“A total of 3,498.579 acres of railways land has been retrieved and regularized until 30 November 2015 after a detailed survey and subsequent campaign launched against encroachers on directives of the Supreme Court,” official sources in the Ministry of Railways told APP on Monday.
The anti-encroachment drive, they said, was being monitored by the divisional superintendents, railway headquarters and at the level of ministry. Besides a comprehensive policy was in place to prevent further encroachments, making railway officers and police responsible ‘in case of any new encroachment.’
During the current campaign, they said 688 were arrested in the anti-encroachment operations and they were being trailed in the courts after retrieving the land from their unauthorized occupation.
To a question, the sources said the issue regarding illegal occupation and possession of Railway land by government departments and institutions had also been taken up with concerned departments. “It is an ongoing exercise, which will continue till the elimination of encroachments.”
