Pakistan Railways Registers 1487 Cases, Arrests 1614 Land

Sumaira FH Published December 21, 2016 | 05:35 PM

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Dec, 2016 ) : Pakistan Railways had registered 1487 cases and arrested 1614 accused indulged in illegal encroachments of its land during the current campaign.

According to official sources here on Wednesday, the cases were being trialed in courts and land under un-authorized occupation had been retrieved. To retrieve encroached land, an anti-encroachment campaign was initiated and land measuring 3522 acres had been so far retrieved, out of which about 1000 acres land had been retrieved during last three years.

It was an ongoing campaign which would continue till the elimination of encroachments. The campaign was being monitored by divisional superintendents, railways headquarter and at the level of railways ministry.

The sources said a comprehensive policy had been drawn to prevent further encroachments. This policy made concerned Pakistan railways officers/officials and railways police jointly responsible in case of any new encroachment.

Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and joint procedure orders had been issued for strict implementation of this policy while First Information Reports (FIRs) were being lodged and cases were registered and sent to railways judicial magistrate for expeditious trial.

The sources said a project for computerization of railways land record had been initiated to harmonize railways land record with the record of all the provincial revenue departments. This project, on completion would ensure to safeguard of railways land through a computerized monitoring system and render total transparency in land management and commercialization.

A countrywide break-up of railways land under encroachment at present showed total 4229.911 acres of land was encroached for different purposes which included 128.837 acres commercial land, 1956.003 acres agriculture rural land, 1353.165 acres residential land and 791.906 acres government department's land. The residential encroachment included unauthorized Kachi Abadis.