ISLAMABAD:Over the past four years, Pakistan Railways has leased out over 4,687 acres of its land in an effort to increase revenue and turn the department into a successful one.According to an official with the Ministry of Railways, the leased-out land was spread throughout seven divisions, including Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi, Multan, and Sukkar.
He claimed that Pakistan Railways (PR) had also made the decision to step up its ongoing anti-encroachment campaign against land squatters throughout the nation in order to reclaim its land from various people, organisations, and even commercial enterprises that had been using it for residential, commercial, and agricultural purposes for decades.
He continued, “The district administrations of the relevant provincial governments and the Railway Police would cooperate in the commencement of the encroachment operation.He said that as part of its nationwide anti-encroachment campaign, the PR had expropriated approximately 500 acres of valuable land worth billions of rupees from unauthorised occupiers.
The government was taking action to reclaim encroached land, he said, adding that a thorough survey was being done to identify the encroached land, which was being illegitimately inhabited by people or different government entities.First Information Reports (FIRs) were being filed, cases were being registered, and they were being submitted to PR Judicial Magistrates for quick trials, according to the official.
