Govt committed to removing encroachments from govt land: Habib

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib on Tuesday said the government was committed to removing encroachments from state-owned land across the country.

Addressing a news conference along with Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Capital Development Authority (CDA) Affairs Ali Nawaz Awan in Islamabad, the minister of state said that for the first time, digitalised cadastral mapping was being prepared.

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Under the initiative, he added, 81,000 square kilometres state-owned land in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan had been digitised.

“Under the first phase of this initiative, massive encroachments on state land worth Rs5,500 billion have been detected across the country. In the light of this digital record, the government will take action against the land mafias and their facilitators,” said Habib.

#Live: Minister of State for Information @FarrukhHabibISF addressing a news conference in #Islamabad https://t.co/Q4hxtM9prL

— Radio Pakistan (@RadioPakistan) November 30, 2021

Speaking on the occasion, Ali Nawaz Awan said that megaprojects, worth billions of rupees, were underway in the federal capital. He claimed that the special focus was being given to development projects in rural areas of the Islamabad Capital Territory.

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According to Awan, the encroachment mafia had occupied land worth Rs500 billion in the federal capital and strong actions were being taken against them. He revealed that Rs150 billion as fine had so far been imposed against them.