SIALKOT: Special Assistant to Punjab Chief Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan has said that, on the direction of CM Usman Buzdar, without accepting any political pressure, an impartial operation is being conducted against land mafia across the province.
Talking to media persons in Sialkot on Sunday, the special assistant said that the operation against illegal occupants of the state land would continue with full force. The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) recovered thousands of acres of land worth Rs181 billion during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government so far, she said adding the land recovered in 10 years of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government was worth of only Rs2.6 billion.
Firdous said that in Punjab, the Sharif family was supporting the land mafia as the 50 top PML-N leaders are involved in land grabbing. The “corrupt” Sharif family had occupied 446 acres of valuable land in Raiwind after 2013, which is being investigated by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), she added.
She said that the national wealth was ruthlessly looted by past rulers looted and they did politics of their personal gains, putting aside the national interests.
The special assistant said that a province with a prosperous agricultural economy like Punjab was looted in the name of making it an industrial province during the past regime. As a result, the province neither remained agricultural nor could be turned into an industrial one.
She said that the PTI government was establishing 13 special economic zones in the province along with the promotion of agriculture sector.
Firdous said that the Sharif family started failed industrial projects and transferred billions of rupees abroad and bought Avenfield apartments with the money received as kickbacks on those projects.
She said that a grand operation was carried out against Khokhar Brothers in Lahore to retrieve 38 kanals of the state land. She added that a grand operation was under way currently for getting clear the state land. She further said that PML-N leader Khawaja Asif had illegally occupied the land of a public park in Cantt Housing scheme, which had been got cleared.
The SACM said that MPA Rana Liaqat was looting people by establishing five illegal housing societies, while another PML-N MPA Chaudhry Arshad Javed Warraich illegally occupied 12 kanals of irrigation land and sold it out as a plot. She said that Chaudhry Arshad Warraich’s daughter approved her father’s society (Canal City Housing Society) as chairperson of the district council.
She said that PML-N MPA Chaudhry Ikram usurped the property of deceased women. She said that more PML-N land grabbers were on the radar of the ACE.
Firdous said that the Punjab chief minister, under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, had stood firmly against the land mafia. She said that under the Punjab Development Programme, work was underway on 165 development schemes worth Rs27 billion in Sialkot district. In addition, Rs700 million will be spent on 50 new schemes, she added.
The SACM said that under the Community Development Programme, work was under way on 38 schemes worth Rs300 million.
She said that 47 schemes of prime minister’s Sustainable Achievement Programme would cost Rs350 million, while Punjab Municipal Services Programme is working on 113 schemes with Rs270 million.
