LAHORE: The Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA), constructing a 46-km-long real estate project on agricultural land along the river, is said to have begun acquiring more farmlands forcibly from farmers, an act that is destroying crops on hundreds of acres in the Ferozewala area.
As per details, the farmers announced that by the end of this week, they would launch a massive protest movement against the government and the Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA).
“We will never allow anyone to use our land for the disastrous project as this land feeds the entire city of Lahore by providing fresh vegetables, and we have decided not to allow anyone to acquire or attempt to possess it forcibly,” said a landowner who land in the project area.
Many videos were also shared on social media by victims who claimed that private contractors, accompanied by private security guards, were forcibly taking possession of their land in the Ferozewala area.
“We have started development work in the Sapphire Bay area after paying the landowners through the legal land acquisition process,” said a RUDA spokesman.
“Under Supreme Court direction, the authority acquired the land with the consent of the landowners,” he claimed.
The groundwork for the Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA) -an allegedly contentious real estate project -was laid by the then prime minister in August 2020.
It is worth mentioning that the Lahore High Court in its January 25 judgment had called the project illegal and questioned the land acquisition process.
However, on January 30, the Supreme Court nullified the LHC verdict, allowing RUDA conditional permission for work after paying compensation to landowners.
