Pakistan Railways expects retrieval of 15,000 acres after land record computerization

Pakistan Railways is expecting an increase of 15,000 acres in assets estimated at billions of rupees after the computerization of land record.

The project to computerise the land records of the Pakistan Railways, which faced delays due to security concerns in Balochistan, will be completed by June 2017.

“Railway officials faced security problems, especially in Balochistan, while conducting land surveys which caused delays in the completion of the project,” sources in Pakistan Railways told the APP.

They said that the Land Record Management Information System (LRMS) was being developed with the support of the urban unit of the Punjab government and an agreement had already been signed in this regard.

Earlier, the project was scheduled to be completed in March 2016. After the completion of the project, it will be possible to ascertain ownership, location, and condition of Pakistan Railways property.

Giving details of the land of Pakistan Railways, they said that the department had a total of 167,690 acres of land including 90,326 acres in Punjab, 39,428 acres in Sindh, 28,228 acres in Balochistan, and 9,707 acres in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Encroached land belonging to the railways PR was highest in Punjab where 2,170 acres were encroached, followed by Sindh with 1,189 acres, Balochistan with 619 acres and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 251 acres, they added.

Though the major portion of the encroached land was in two provinces, Balochistan topped the list in respect of value amounting to Rs 50.9 billion followed by Punjab at Rs 22.58 billion, Sindh at 11.5 billion, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at Rs 7.7 billion.

However, they claimed that the railways had retrieved over 3,550 acres of land from illegal occupants in different phases since January 2012 and had approached the Supreme Court against the provinces for not transferring railways land back to the department.