Lahore anti-encroachment drive halted indefinitely

LAHORE: The Lahore district administration on Saturday halted an anti-encroachment drive against land mafia and illegal encroachments for an indefinite period.

The operation was halted following the arrest of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahbaz Sharif by the National Accountability Bureau on October 5.

According to the Deputy Commissioner Lahore Anwarul Haq, “The operation will commence keeping the current situation in view and will be conducted in an unbiased manner.”

He added, “Property worth Rs6.5 billion has been retrieved during the drive. The operation will commence again in a few days.”

The drive against the land mafia and illegal encroachments in Lahore was launched a day after the Supreme Court ordered the Ministry of Interior to place alleged land grabber Mansha Bomb and his sons on the Exit Control List.

During the first two days of the operation, the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) demolished the furniture market of land grabber Mansha Bomb and retrieved over 25 showrooms and 20 commercial plots in the market located at the PIA road.

The authority had said that they had expected to retrieve 31,687 kanals of state land, 280 acres land of the forest department, eight plots in the Walled City, 636 kanals of land that belongs to the LDA, and 32 plots worth Rs2 billion of the Metropolitan Corporation Lahore (MCL) during the drive.