1,000 acres of forest land recovered in Nawabshah

SUKKUR: The forest department on Friday retrieved one thousand acres land from land grabbers, complying with the Supreme Court’s decision to remove encroachments from forest land.

Reports said the forest department initiated an anti-encroachment drive against land grabbers, led by divisional forest officer, Abid Hussain Rind, along with heavy machinery and security staff. The team successfully retrieved one thousand acres of land, which was forcefully taken by some influential personalities, including Muqeem Zardari, Gullan Keerio and others in Nawabshah. The anti-encroachment team also removed tubewells and other installations from the land, while the land grabbers along with local farmers protested and blocked the ways of the team to stop the operation. They also claimed paying thousands of rupees to the officials of forest department for installing irrigation and cultivation set-ups on the occupied land.

The protesters claimed that the forest department did not serve them notices prior to forcefully evacuating them from the land and removing their installations. Meanwhile, the divisional forest officer said at least 55,000 acres land of 13 forests were illegally occupied by some influential personalities, adding that during the operation, some 12,000 acres land was retrieved from the grabbers.