Impartial operation against land mafia under way: Dr Firdous

SIALKOT: Special Assistant to Chief Minister (SACM) Punjab on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan has said that an impartial operation is being conducted against land mafia without any political pressure, on the direction of Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar.

Talking to the media at here on Sunday, she said the operation against illegal occupants of the the state land would continue with full force.

She said that the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) recovered thousands of acres of land worth Rs 181 billion during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government so far.

She said the land recovered in 10 years of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) government was worth of only Rs 2.6 billion.

In Punjab, the Sharif family was supporting the land mafia saying that the 50 top PML-N leaders are involved in land grabbing, she added.

Dr Firdous said the corrupt Sharif family had occupied 446 acres of valuable land in Raiwind after 2013, which is being investigated by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The SACM said the past rulers looted the national wealth ruthlessly and ever done politics of their personal gains, putting aside the national interests.

The SAC said that a province with a prosperous agricultural economy like Punjab was looted in the name of making it an industrial province during the past regime. As a result, the province neither remained agricultural nor could be turned into an industrial one.

She said the PTI government was establishing 13 special economic zones in the province along with the promotion of agriculture sector.

The SACM said the Sharif family started failed industrial projects, and transferred billions of rupees abroad and bought Avenfield apartments with the money received as kickbacks on those projects.

The SACM said a grand operation was carried out against Khokhar Brothers in Lahore to retrieve 38 kanals of the state land. She said a grand operation was under way currently for getting clear the state land.

She said that PML-N leader Khwaja Asif had illegally occupied the land of a public park in Cantt Housing scheme, which had been got cleared.

Dr Firdous said that MPA Rana Liaqat was looting people by establishing five illegal housing societies, while another PML-N MPA Chaudhry Arshad Javed Warraich illegally occupied 12 kanals of irrigation land and sold it out as a plot.

She said that Chaudhry Arshad Warraich's daughter approved her father's society (Canal City Housing Society) as chairperson of the district council.

The SACM said PML-N MPA Chaudhry Ikram usurped the property of deceased women. She said that more PML-N land grabbers were on the radar of the ACE.

She said that the Punjab chief minister, under the leadership of Peime Minister Imran Khan, had stood firmly against the land mafia. She said that under the Punjab Development Programme, work was underway on 165 development schemes worth Rs 27 billion in Sialkot district. In addition, Rs 700 million will be spent on 50 new schemes.

The SACM said that under the Community Development Programme, work was under way on 38 schemes worth Rs 300 million.

She said that 47 schemes of Prime Minister's Sustainable Achievement Programme would cost Rs 350 million, while Punjab Municipal Services Programme is working on 113 schemes with Rs 270 million.