Land illegally occupied by Sharif family recovered

LAHORE: The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Punjab has retrieved 36-kanal government land, illegally occupied and included in the Ittefaq Sugar Mills by the Nawaz Sharif family.

According to sources, Ittefaq Sugar Mills had encroached upon state land in 1982. ACE Sahiwal regional director had assigned ACE Pakpattan circle officer to examine the Revenue Department record. The matter was taken up with the assistant commissioner Pakpattan and Revenue field staff.

After verification of the illegal occupation, AC Pakpattan ordered the land to be for vacated under Section 32-34 of the Colonisation Act, on September 28, 2019.

When ACE Pakpattan and others visited the site, they reported that 16-kanal area of the illegally occupied land was found vacant, while sugar mills stores and a laboratory were found on 20-kanal area. However, all these constructions had partially been demolished and were found vacant due to shifting of the mill machinery to Rahim Yar Khan.

ACE sources further said possession of the land was handed over to the Revenue field staff through ‘Rapt Roznamcha Waqiati’ on September 28, 2019.

The revenue filed staff stated that the market rate of the occupied land was Rs5 million per acre, and the total market value of land is approximately Rs22.5 million.

Officials said no rent had been paid by the sugar mills to the Revenue Department since 1982, which would amount to millions of rupees. The mill was situated at Pakpattan Road Sahiwal, which is a very important location. However, no inquiry had been ordered so far as to why the Revenue Department kept silence over illegal occupation of the state land for such a long period of time.

Originally published in The News