‘Deputy commissioners ordered to reclaim govt land worth Rs24bn’

Sindh Minister for Industries & Commerce, Cooperation and Enquiries & Anti-Corruption Jam Ikramullah Dharejo has said that the provincial government is taking action against corrupt officials without any discrimination.

Addressing a news conference at the media cell of the archives department on Monday, Dharejo said that instructions have been issued to the relevant deputy commissioners to get government land worth more than Rs24 billion vacated from illegal occupation.

He said that five corruption cases had been registered against local government department officials, 64 against Board of Revenue officials, two against health department officials, two against works & services department officials and two against cooperation department officials.

He added that FIRs had been registered against the suspects in accordance with the law, while two of the cases filed against LG department officials had been approved. One of the cases involved misappropriation of Rs11,837,034, while in the other case, the suspect had seized 600 yards of a graveyard with the connivance of Karachi Development Authority officers.

In another case, revenue department officials usurped 195.1 acres of government land belonging to the Deha Kalu Kohar police station in the Bola Khan area through fake documents, causing a loss of Rs1.95 billion to the national exchequer.

Two open inquiries have also been approved: 16 acres in Deha Songal and 40 acres of prime location in Karachi’s Scheme 33 were allotted to private individuals with the help of the land utilisation department, the assistant commissioner, the revenue mukhtiarkar and others, causing a loss of Rs5.6 billion to the national exchequer.

Dharejo said that the Anti-Corruption Committee-1 has launched an investigation into another case involving occupation of government land: the BoR has been directed to get 852 acres of Deh Konkar and Deh Kharo in District Malir vacated.

The anti-corruption minister added that the value of this land is around Rs17 billion, while the total value of all these lands is about Rs24.55 billion. He said that anti-corruption laws are being amended to take effective action against corrupt elements.

Replying to a question, he said that more industrial estates will be set up in less developed areas of the province along the lines of the Larkana Industrial Estate, adding that steps are being taken to reopen closed industrial units. He said that Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah are trying to bring an industrial revolution in the province.