Operation against land mafia be intensified: IGP

LAHORE: Inspector General of Police Punjab Inam Ghani has said the land-grabbing mafia illegally occupying government lands and private property in all districts of the province do not deserve any concession, so the ongoing operation against them should be intensified regardless of their status.

He said all RPOs, CPOs and DPOs should maintain close liaison with the district administration and the agencies concerned during the crackdown to retrieve occupied government and private properties. Expressing satisfaction over the performance so far during the ongoing operation against the land grabbing mafia, the IGP issued instructions to all RPOs and DPOs and said while maintaining the momentum of the operation, strict measures should not be avoided against the land mafia and criminal elements and the operation should be supervised by the supervisory officers themselves. He said land grabbers and criminal elements are a curse in a society.

He expressed these views while presiding over a meeting to review the ongoing operation and police operations against the land mafia across the province. During the meeting, details of lands vacated in collaboration with police teams and other government agencies from the land grabbers across the province were reviewed. Additional IG Operations Shehzad Sultan while briefing the IGP said that during the ongoing operations, so far 55,286 acres of government and private lands worth over Rs 132.73 billion have been retrieved in different districts. He said the Lahore Police have retrieved 2,336 Kanals worth Rs 47.2 billion while the Khanewal Police have relinquished 110 Kanals worth Rs 265 million. The DG Khan Police retrieved 24,039 Acres worth Rs 6 billion 25 crore 68 lakh while the Okara Police have relinquished 899 Acres of government land worth Rs 1,939 million. The Jhang Police have retrieved 4,492 Acres worth 6,744 million while the Bahawalpur Police retrieved 1,142 Acres worth 6,649 million. The Multan Police retrieved over 2,200 Kanals worth over Rs 400 million while the Vehari Police retrieved 64 Acres of government land. The Chiniot Police relinquished 1,051 Acres worth Rs 1,786 million while the Sheikhupura Police relinquished 1,027 Acres of government land worth Rs 3,870 million. The Faisalabad Police retrieved more than 6,045 Acres of agricultural, commercial and industrial land worth Rs 48.24 billion.

The Mianwali Police retrieved 1,938 Acres worth Rs 3,772 million while the Gujrat Police retrieved 325 Kanals. The Bahawalnagar Police retrieved 31 Acres while the Sargodha Police retrieved 24 Acres of agricultural land. The Rajanpur Police retrieved 1,563 Acres worth of Rs 348 million while the Mandi Bahauddin Police retrieved 3,217 Kanals worth Rs 1,640 million. The Kasur Police retrieved 36,000 Kanals worth Rs 4,000 million while the Sahiwal Police retrieved 1,297 Kanals of government land worth Rs 1,363 million. The Nankana Police retrieved 28,278 Kanals worth Rs 4,621 million whereas the Muzaffargarh Police retrieved 30,000 Kanals.

The additional IG said indiscriminate operations are being carried out in all districts of the province. The IGP directed expediting the operations to eradicate illegal occupation of agricultural, commercial and industrial lands across the province and said that the occupiers of property and government lands of the citizens, especially overseas Pakistanis, should be dealt with iron hand. He said the legal documents of every step taken in the operations against the land mafia should be made part of the record and the action should be kept transparent and merit based while the weekly progress reports of the action taken across the province should be sent to the Central Police Office regularly. Additional IG Establishment Azhar Hameed Khokhar, Additional IG PHP Shahid Hanif, Additional IG Welfare and Finance Farooq Mazhar, Additional IG Procurement Ali Amir Malik, DIG Operations Sohail Sukhera and other officers were present in the meeting.