Land record of thousands of properties suffers irreparable damage during rains

Rawalpindi: Dilapidated condition of District Revenue Record Room has put land record of hundreds of thousands of people at stake as rainwater during recent rains seeped into the old rooms which had developed large cracks. Earlier, no viable step has been taken by the authorities concerned to address the issue which has left hundreds of thousands of people running from pillar to post to get the land record of their homes, agriculture and commercial land but in vain.

The government employees working in the dilapidated building on condition of anonymity said that they were working in unfit conditions because this building could collapse any time. The building has developed big cracks and debris continues to fall down and the situation has aggravated during monsoon when rainwater seeps through these cracks and damages the land record. He said that several letters had been written to the higher authorities for proper redressal of this issue but in vain.

The government officials of record room also said that more than 50% of the land record was burnt in the 2002 fire. “The affected people are still facing difficulties due to destruction of their land record, while ‘qabza mafia’ is taking full advantage of this situation. We have written dozens of letters to the higher authorities to shift the land record to a safer place but to no avail,” he added.

District Revenue Record Room In-Charge Malik Muhammad Rehan admitting all facts

 and figures told ‘The News’ that they were working in unsatisfactory and unsafe working environment. He said that they have sent a summery to deputy commissioner (DC)), Rawalpindi to address this issue immediately. The deputy commissioner (DC), Rawalpindi has assured the renovation work of the building will start soon, he said.

It is worth mentioning here that in 2002, the record room of the District Revenue Department, Rawalpindi, established in 1860, caught fire in which most of the land record dating back to 1905 was burnt. Helpless people of Rawalpindi urged the higher authorities to take action to find out genuine record of their land. But all went in vain and higher authorities did not learnt any lessons from the fire incident and continued working as per routine in the dilapidated building. At that time, the higher authorities assured the clients that their problems would be addressed and also promised to shift the record room to another building with proper arrangements for keeping documents.

Rawalpindi Patwari Association (RPA) former president Qazi Muhammad Hussain said that nobody is considering this serious issue. The record of millions of people is continuously getting destroyed due to rainwater. Neither valuable record nor the lives of employees working in this building are safe, he said.

Interestingly, there is not a single watchman in and around the record room building, which is without windows and locks.The sources said that millions of files are piled up in the record room of the District Revenue Department since 1860 and revenue and other courts send copies of their decisions to the record room daily from where people could get attested copies of these decisions.

Sources in the district record room also said this correspondent that rainwater has completely destroyed maximum land revenue record, “The concerned staff is trying to find out the torn off pieces of the documents to make up for their deficiency, but it is an arduous job,” sources added.

In October 25, 2013 ‘The News’ through a story tried to draw attention of concerned authority. Talat Gondal who was Deputy District Collector (ADC) at that time but now he is deputy commissioner (DC), Rawalpindi had admitted all facts and figures and assured to shift the record room to another building with proper racking arrangements of revenue documents. At that time he had claimed that he has written letter to the Building Department to provide a new building with proper racking arrangements for record. He also claimed that the Building Department assured provision of a building for this purpose soon. However, so far the land record continues getting damaged in the old building.