Around 839 acres of Railways land still under encroachment: NA body told

Pakistan Railways on Wednesday admitted that around 839 acres of its land, worth billions of rupees, are still under encroachment in Sukkur and Rawalpindi divisions and it is facing difficulties in getting the land vacated from encroachers due to stay orders from the courts. This was revealed to the sub-committee of National Assembly Standing Committee on Railways which met here with Ramesh Lal in the chair.
The officials of Pakistan Railways said that the grant of stay orders by courts without hearing the department's viewpoint is making it difficult for them to get the land vacated from influential people. Currently, 223 cases are pending in different courts including four in the Supreme Court, 27 in high courts and 192 in civil courts.
Divisional Superintendent Sukkur Riaz Ali Leghari said that Pakistan Railways has a total of 26,480 acres of land in the division where 687.24 acres have been encroached upon including, residences are built on 241.514 acres, 8.14 acres are in commercial use, 413.346 acres are under cultivation and 24.24 acres have been encroached by the government departments. He further said that 104.87 acres of land have been got vacated from encroachers during the last six months.
The convener of the committee said that the railways land is still under encroachment in Qambar Shahdadkot. "Who are the influential people who have set up showrooms and petrol pumps on Railways land in Sukkur." Moreover, a lot of land has been encroached upon in Lahore but nobody is ready to go there, he further said.
Divisional Superintendent Rawalpindi Abdul Malik said that the railways has a total of 16,730 acres of land in the division, where 97.13 acres have been encroached by the government departments, 21.95 acres by private institutions and 33.47 acres by individuals. Since July 2016, 8.411 acres of land have been got vacated from encroachers which has an estimated value of Rs 271 million.
The committee was further informed whenever they take action against the encroachers they go to the courts and obtain stay orders, making it difficult for them to get the land vacated.