State land illegally occupied by Sharif family sugar mill retrieved

LAHORE: The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Punjab has retrieved 36-kanal government land, illegally occupied and included in the Ittefaq Sugar Mills by the Nawaz Sharif family, The New learnt on authority.

According to the ACE sources, Ittefaq Sugar Mills had encroached upon the state land in 1982. The ACE Sahiwal regional director had assigned ACE Pakpattan circle officer to examine the Revenue Department record. The matter was taken up with the assistant commissioner Pakpattan and Revenue field staff. After verification, illegal occupation was proved and the Pakpattan AC ordered for vacation of the state land was ordered under Section 32-34 of the Colonisation Act, on Sept 28, 2019. Revenue filed staff, ACE Pakpattan circle officer and police visited the site and reported that no stay order was presented to them by the mill administration. The visiting team reported that 16-kanal area of the illegally occupied land was found vacant, while sugar mills stores and a laboratory were found on 20-kanal area. However, all these constructions had partially been demolished and were found vacant due to shifting of the machinery of the mill to Rahim Yar Khan. The ACE sources said possession of the land was handed over to the Revenue field staff through ‘Rapt Roznamcha Waqiati’ No 30 on Sept 28, 2019. The Revenue filed staff stated that the market rate of the occupied land was Rs5 million per acre, and the total market value of land is approximately Rs22.5 million. The officials said no rent had been paid by the sugar mills to the Revenue Department since 1982, which would amount to millions of rupees. The mill was situated at Pakpattan Road Sahiwal, which is a very important location. However, no inquiry had been ordered so far as to why the Revenue Department kept silence over illegal occupation of the state land for such a long period of time.