LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Monday conducted the digital balloting for the Apna Khet, Apna Rozgar scheme, under which 30,000 landless families were allotted cultivable state land on a symbolic annual lease of Rs100 for 20 years.
The scheme covers over 121,000 acres of cultivable land, enabling beneficiary families to obtain long-term cultivation rights. Each family will also receive financial assistance of Rs 50,000 per acre for land preparation, while the Agriculture Extension Department will provide technical support for cultivation.
During the ceremony, the chief minister personally telephoned successful applicants to congratulate them. Speaking to Abdul Sattar of Faisalabad, one of the successful beneficiaries, she said he had been allotted four acres of land for the next 20 years on payment of only Rs100 annually per acre. She added that he would also receive Rs 50,000 per acre, amounting to Rs 200,000, to prepare the land for cultivation.
Earlier, Senior Member Board of Revenue Nabeel Javed briefed the chief minister that the programme, launched on April 22, had been completed in less than three months. He said around 60,000 applications had been received, including nearly 11,000 from women. Balloting for about 29,000 lots had been completed, while applicants were given an opportunity for personal hearings and appeals during the scrutiny process.
According to the briefing, allotment letters will be issued within a week and possession of the allotted land is expected by July 31. District committees have been constituted for implementation, and lease certificates will be issued to successful applicants.
Addressing the ceremony, CM Punjab congratulated the successful families and appreciated Provincial Agriculture Minister Ashiq Kirmani, Secretary Agriculture Iftikhar Sahoo, Senior Member Board of Revenue Nabeel Javed and their teams for completing the programme within a short period.
She said the initiative was aimed at empowering the poorest landless families by providing them with cultivable land, financial assistance and technical support, enabling them to earn a sustainable livelihood with dignity.
The chief minister said only genuinely deserving families without agricultural land ownership had been selected strictly on merit, adding that no recommendations had been entertained in the allotment process. She said the government would continue identifying cultivable state land across Punjab for distribution among deserving landless families, adding that more beneficiaries would be included in future phases of the programme.
The CM said the initiative would strengthen the rural economy, increase agricultural production and promote financial independence among low-income households. She added that women had also participated actively in the scheme, with female applicants accounting for 20 per cent overall and 29pc in the Cholistan component of the programme. She said Punjab had become the first province to make ordinary citizens stakeholders in state-owned agricultural land through such an initiative, adding that successful beneficiaries would receive both land and financial support to make cultivation economically viable.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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