PAC orders clearing railway land from encroachments

ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee was informed Wednesday the railway land worth Rs. 4.4 billion has been encroached upon, with 14,000 acres illegally occupied.The Public Accounts Committee directed an operation to put an end to land encroachment by starting from Peshawar. Furthermore, the committee mandated that no officer should hold a position in the railways for more than three years.Under the chairmanship of Noor Alam Khan, the Public Accounts Committee held a meeting to examine the audit paras pertaining to the Ministry of Railways for the financial year 2019-20.Chairman Noor Alam Khan expressed concern about the allocation of railway land for housing societies and said that any officer or individual, including minister(s), who made wrongful decisions will be held accountable.

He said that a significant amount of the railways’ land, including 138 acres in his city, has been encroached upon. He stressed the need to take decisive action, starting with preventing encroachment in Peshawar and holding railway employees accountable.PAC member Syed Tariq Hussain highlighted the fact that people have occupied the railway land for decades without being evicted. He stressed the importance of finding a solution to this problem.