Preserve agricultural land: 65 illegal housing societies sealed, 235 issued notices

PESHAWAR: The provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has sealed 65 illegal housing societies, six demolished and 235 others have been issued notices whereas FIRs have also been registered against 196 housing societies across the province.

The purpose of the crackdown is to stop illegal construction activities in order to preserve agricultural land across the province. This was told in a meeting held here the other day with Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan in the chair to devise an effective strategy to stop illegal construction activities on agricultural land. Besides provincial ministers Taimur Saleem Jhagra, Akbar Ayub and Amjad Ali Khan, Chief Secretary Dr. Kazim Niaz, the meeting was attended by administrative secretaries and other high ups of concerned departments.

Briefing the meeting about the steps taken so far to stop illegal construction activities on agricultural lands, it was informed that necessary instructions had been issued to district administrations and Revenue Department to impose ban on mutation of land in unapproved/illegal housing societies whereas the concerned departments have been asked not to provide utility connections to such housing societies in the province.

It was further informed that for the awareness of the general masses, details of all the legal and illegal housing societies had been uploaded on the websites of Peshawar Development Authority and concerned Tehsil Municipal Administrations adding that besides other legal actions, offices of illegal housing societies are also being sealed. On this occasion, the Chief Minister directed the authorities concerned to identify the responsible quarters of concerned departments and take action against them for their negligence with regard to the already established illegal housing societies.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021