ISLAMABAD: Over 200 acres of commercial and residential land of Pakistan Railways is under illegal occupation of the provincial governments of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab.
Around 113.55 acres of railways land was under unauthorised utilization of different government departments of Punjab and 87.017 acres under KP government, an official in the Ministry of Railways said.
Giving details of the railways land in Punjab, he said 95.56 acres land was under unauthorized use of Revenue Department of Attock City, 9.99 acres by board of Revenue Mianwali, 3.81 acres by education Department Punjab for Construction of school in Mianwali, 3.69 acres by Attock Tehsil Municipal Office and 0.5 acres by Highway Punjab Mianwali.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he said 46 acres land was being used unauthorized by Bannu District Government. 33 acres by Health Department of Nowshera, 11.509 acres by Traffic Police, Revenue Departments of Peshawar, 6.77 acres by Police Department of Hangu and Lakki Marwat and 0.048 by District Police Kohat.
He said special campaign for removal of encroachment had been launched in the divisions resulting 51.40 acres of railways land retrieved during the last three months.
He said the division was actively carrying out campaign against land mafia to retrieve valuable state land with the help of concerned district administration and as well as district railway police.
One major factor which makes hurdles in retrieval of railways land was stay order from the courts as presently about 185 land cases were under trial in different courts, which were also vigorously followed in the light of orders passed by the Supreme Court, he added.
