LAHORE: The Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) has revealed encroachment on Pakistan Railways properties worth billions of rupees in eight divisions of the department.
According to the report, the land mafia encroached on railway land in collaboration with the Land Department and the Railway Police.
“It was observed that an additional 9,982.72 Kanal of Railway land went under encroachment despite avowed anti-encroachment campaigns during the audit of the Headquarters office, Lahore in March 2020,” the report added.
The report further reveals the locations of encroached land that include Lahore’s Barlab Canal, Karachi’s Landhi Bachat Bazaar, the Women University in Quetta Division, Hyderabad’s Railway Cooperative Society, and railway land in Peshawar Division, among other places.
“Surprisingly, the audit discovered that revenue records kept at headquarters differed significantly from those kept at divisional levels,” the report said.
The audit also discovered instances of land leasing at lower rates than the DC rates, suggesting that the department should conduct its own market survey to re-evaluate the rates, followed by a robust application mechanism for implementing those rates.
