895 cases registered against land mafia; 41 properties retrieved in Punjab: PM told

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Thursday was told that 895 cases had been registered against the land mafia in Punjab and 41 illegally occupied properties recovered.

The prime minister was chairing the weekly meeting on housing, construction and development.

Inspector General of Punjab Police Inami Ghani briefing the PM about the ongoing action against land mafia in the province, said some 906 references had been pending since 2009 and after their review, cases were registered against the people involved.

Executive Director of Akhuwat Dr Muhammad Amjad Saqib told the meeting that the government had allocated Rs 5 billion to help the low-income people construct their own houses.

Out of the allocated money, Dr Amjad Saqib said, Rs 3.35 billion had been utilized to build 7,572 low income houses. SOME 2,416 applications for low-income housing were in process while another 765 were pending for processing.

It was told that the recovery ratio of the utilized amount remained 100 percent which would be further used to support more people.

The prime minister lauded the success of Akhuwat model of financing the low-income group.

The meeting discussed the promotion of construction sector, the development of illegal housing societies and elimination of fraud against the overseas Pakistanis.

Chairman of Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority Lt General (retd) Anwar Ali Hayder told the meeting that a short and mid-term strategy had been devised to curb illegal housing societies, illegal sale of single plots to multiple people, illegal construction activity on agricultural land, parks and public properties.

Under the short-term strategy, the regulatory bodies had been instructed to ensure online availability of the approved layout plans and other relevant details of the projects.

A central database of horizontal and vertical projects would be developed and a comprehensive awareness drive would be launched to save the people from falling prey to illegal projects.

Moreover, a strategy had also been formulated to stop the construction work on unapproved projects.

The district administrations had been asked to remove the publicity material of all illegal projects and take action against the staffers involved in facilitating the said projects.

The prime minister was told that the advertising of illegal construction projects would be banned with the collaboration of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority.

The prime minister directed the chief secretaries to issue special instructions to the district administrations and deputy commissioners for action against illegal occupation and land mafia.

Moreover, he also called for action against the officers and staffers for patronizing or conniving with the land mafia.

The Surveyor General of Pakistan also apprised the meeting of the progress in the digitization of the cadaster of the country.

Earlier during a review meeting of River Ravi Urban Development project, the prime minister was told that an investors’ conference would be held on March 9.

Moreover, they would also benefit from the expertise of a Singaporean firm in forestry and enhancement of green cover.

The meeting was briefed on the conversion of Walton Lahore Airport into Central Business District and the project would be launched in mid of next month.