4,202 acre PR land still encroached upon

LAHORE

Despite four years of anti-encroachment drive by the Pakistan Railways, 4,202 acres of its land worth around Rs 100 billion remains encroached by influential encroachers including government institutions across the country, The News has learnt. 

The document available with The News shows that these 4,202 acres include commercial, residential and agricultural land. It also reveals that several federal and provincial government departments are occupants of vast stretches of Railways land and are using these without paying remuneration. 

Punjab tops the list regarding encroached Railways land. At the moment, encroachers in Punjab occupy 2,162 acres which is more than half of the total 4,202 acres encroached land of Railways.

In Punjab, six acres of encroached Railways land are being used for commercials purposes, 460 acres for residential purposes, and 1,251 acres of agricultural purposes. It is worth mentioning here that most of the encroachers are feudal lords who are mostly using the occupied lands for agriculture. The land of Pakistan Railways in the possession of different departments of the government of Punjab measures 272 acres while that occupied by armed forces of Pakistan in the province measures 173 acres. 

Sindh province stands second as it occupies 1182 acres out of the total 4202 acres of Railways land encroached in the country. According to the said document, 644 acres are being used for agriculture, mostly by the big landlords of Sindh, 445 acres for residential purposes and 44 acres for commercial. Around 34 acres have been encroached by different departments of the government of Sindh. Armed forces are occupants of 15 acres in this province.

Balochistan stands on 3rd number on the list. According to the document, 619 out of 4,202 acres of Pakistan Railways have been encroached in this province and 442 acres of land have been encroached by influential people in the province who have used this area for residential purposes, 73 acres consist of commercial area and 46 acres fall in the category of agriculture use land. The armed forces occupy 48 acres of Railways land in Balochistan. Not less than ten acres of Pakistan Railways land have been put into their use by various departments working under the government of Baluchistan.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is a province with the least encroached land of Railways. Only 251 out of the total 4,202 acres encroached land of Railways fall within the geographical boundaries of province. There is no encroached land put under commercial or residential use in KP. Only 11 acres are in agricultural use where as the defence department has occupation of 15 acres of Railways land. 

Pakistan Railways Police DIG Jawwad Dogar said Railways police arrest the encroachers on the spot. He said police go with Railways officers like DS and got vacated the encroached land. We abide by the law. He, however, said Railways police act only when it is directed by the relevant department and cannot raid any encroached land site on its own.