Senate body to probe into lands auction worth over Rs 40 billion at Rs 851 million

While rejecting the stance of Punjab government over the auction of lands worth above Rs 40 billion at Rs 851 million, the Senate Select Committee on Less Developed Areas on Wednesday decided to hold a thorough probe into the privatisation of 39 public properties in Bahawalpur at "throwaway" prices.
The committee, which met with Dr Abdul Malik in the chair here at the Parliament House, out-rightly rejected the stance of Punjab government and also expressed grave concerns over what it described as 'dubious' sale of 39 public properties in Bahawalpur at 'throwaway prices' by the provincial government and decided to conduct a thorough inquiry into the matter. The committee also decided that the matter be referred to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) or other competent fora to ensure transparency.
Committee member Mohammad Ali Durrani presented documentary proofs and official correspondence to the panel pertaining to sale of precious land. He suggested that the committee should itself send a fact-finding mission to Bahawalpur to probe into the 'loot sale' of the precious land, which actually belonged to the people of the area. He said that the land was sold to some front-men of influential persons hailing from Peshawar, Lahore and other areas.
Another member of the committee Senator Haji Adeel described the privatisation of land as 'loot sale' adding that the sale was aimed at promoting the culture of landlords. While referring to the auction of land in blocks of 200 acres each to certain individuals, he said it was against the all laws. He said that the source of income of those who had purchased the land should be brought before the committee.
The committee expressed dissatisfaction over the justification of the sale of Feroza Rest House and questioned that why the letter of chief engineer fisheries against the sale of the rest house was not adhered to? The committee further asked that why the rest house was sold for Rs 70 million whereas the market price for the same land was above Rs 400 million.
However, officials of Punjab government said that all the required standard operating procedures (SOPs) were completed before the sale of the said land. Chairman of Punjab Privatisation Board, Chauhdry Safdar Hussain, Secretary of the Board, Mohammad Ashiq and member board of revenue Tariq Mahmood who represented the provincial government in the meeting, contended that the Chief Minister Punjab had authorised the privatisation of Bahawalpur land and that entire process was made as per law.
Whereas Haji Adeel, while citing privatisation of the Pakistan Steel Mills said that the previous government had also followed all the bureaucratic process in sale but Supreme Court had turned down the privatisation. Earlier, the committee was briefed by former Naib Nazim Feroza Town, Waheed Arshad and Chaudhry Shaukat Ali Asim Advocate who were of the view that the irregularities were committed in the privatisation of the land.
The former Naib Nazim said that the auction of the rest house had been conducted in police cordon while the people of the areas had staged a sit-in against the auction at nominal prices. He said the citizens had constructed a mosque with their donations, but the mosque was also sold just to generate money. In his observation, the chairman of the committee said that the panel was not satisfied with the version given by the officials of Punjab government on the privatisation of the precious land and the committee would chalk out its strategy in this regard.