‘Shelved’ Ravi National Park suffocating locals

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

* Citizens condemn govt’s ‘deceitful methods’, refer to scheme as ‘biggest land grabbing scandal ever’
* CDGL establishes camps in several areas to ensure locals cannot develop, build on their lands

By Afnan Khan

LAHORE: Citizens have slammed the Punjab government for adopting “deceitful methods” to acquire possession of private land in the name of its ‘Ravi National Park scheme’, even though it had announced that the aforementioned scheme had been shelved.

The City District Government Lahore has established camps in different areas coming under the scheme in order to ensure that no one is able to construct any building or structure – even though they own the land on which these government camps have been set up – in a bid to reduce the value of the property in the area by making it “controversial” and finally forcing the owners of the said property to sell it meager amounts to the government.

Biggest scandal: This one scheme is being considered the biggest land grabbing scandal ever launched by any government, which has deprived more than 1.3 million poor people of their houses, businesses and land that they could have used for agricultural purposes.

Residents of the area are alleging that the project is aimed at building a “huge private state for the incumbent government’s Arab friends”, who are planning to purchase the land present in Lahore on a very low price by first making the land in question ‘disputed’ and then by blackmailing the citizens to sell their properties at extremely-low prices.

However, not only have the Punjab and district governments denied any involvement in this scandal and promised that the scheme has been shelved – despite photographic evidence that begs to differ – they are also speeding up their plans, as they have begun building proper camps in different circles of the area to stop people from accessing and developing their properties. The task of ensuring the Punjab government’s will has been given to local patwaris and district government officials, who mostly sit around in the camps in order to avoid any conflict with locals while trying to implement the provincial government’s orders.

District Coordination Officer Lahore Sajjad Ahmad Bhutta had earlier said the government had already shelved the National Ravi Park project and that they were now taking action against those who were harassing the masses and warning them not to sell, purchase or develop their lands.

The DCO had announced that the scheme had been shelved after Daily Times revealed the activities being perpetrated in various parts of Lahore, Shaikhupura and Muredkay in the name of the ‘National Ravi Park’. Following the news of its activities, the Punjab government faced severe criticism from both the media and the public for conducting a similar operation in the name of their anti-encroachment drive near Sagian Bridge a few days back.

Despite citizen’s claiming that the court had allowed them to build on their lands, there are several warnings from the government against any such activity displayed at the stalls. Behram Malik, one of the residents of Manawan – where the district government has recently set up one such camp – told Daily Times that this particular act on the part of the provincial government “was the worst case of land grabbing conducted by any government in the history of Pakistan”.

“We clearly know that patwaris of the area are the people who have written warnings on all over the area… we have seen them doing so during nights to avoid any public backlash. This is the worst kind of government… one that is stealing from its own citizens after taking an oath to protect and safeguard their rights,” Behram said, adding that even if the government’s claims that it was not responsible for the warnings chalked on walls in the area were true, what excuse did the provincial government have to justify the camps it had set up to implement its designs, as they remain operational throughout the day and both patwaris and government officials sit in these camps in broad daylight.

Another resident, Khurram Shahzad, said his 10 marla house had also come into the so-called park and he was very concerned about the way the government was devaluating the property in this area through various tactics.

“I question the credibility of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who himself chose the title of ‘Khadam-e-Ala’. I ask him where he is while people from his own family and his government are robbing innocent people and are planning to throw them out of their own houses,” Khurram said.

Another man, Arsalan Khan, told Daily Times that patwaris of the area were not only sitting in the camps to stop people from doing any kind of development on their lands, but they were also hindering the issuance of fards (a complete record of every aspect of any land) to its owners.

He said that a patwari named Altaf, serving in Manawan, recently took Rs 150,000 as bribe to issue a fard of agricultural land situated near Batapur area and then claimed that he was barred by the higher authorities to issue any property documents in order to discourage the sale and purchase of land in the area targeted for the scheme.

Khudam-e-Kissan Welfare Society Chairman Haji Mukhtar Ahmed, Babar Habib and Malik Fehmaish also told Daily Times that the rulers of Punjab wanted to build an estate for their ‘Arab friends’ on the land that had been targeted by the scheme.

They said the DCO Lahore had evaluated the official price of the land as Rs 5,000 per marla, while the same land outside the scheme was evaluated at Rs 85,000 per marla. “Revenue department officials also stopped verifying the land owned by helpless farmers for issuance of bank loans as well as transfer, sale and purchase of their properties,” they said, adding that they had met Sajjad Bhutta, who had claimed that the government did not have any funds to start the project and that the scheme only existed on paper.

“When asked to cancel the land acquisition notification, the DCO refused to do so,” they said, adding that a delegation of local farmers had even gone to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Lahore President Mian Marghoob Ahmed, who advised the delegation to stay away from the issue “because it was a high-profile matter”.

“The district officer (Revenue), Lahore, in January 2009 issued a notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, which stated that the land was likely to be acquired by the Punjab government’s Forest Department for public purpose.

As a result of the notice, 216 villages, 1,000 mosques, 200 schools, 200 graveyards and 140,438 acres of fertile agricultural land in five different tehsils, including Lahore City, Lahore Cantt, Sharaqpur Sharif, Ferozewala and Muredkay were left to suffer, where more than 1.3 million people are residing and producing crops worth an annual Rs 29.260 billion,” they said, adding that later on the night of March 22, teams of patwaris under the supervision of the DCO started a campaign of wall chalking in Lahore’s Cantonment Area, which contained the text, “The Punjab government bans any construction and sale/purchase of land.”

The campaign effectively ensured that the prices of lands in these areas plummeted, they said, adding that currently the agents of some of Punjab’s influential personalities were trying to purchase these lands on low prices. Locals have warned that the scheme is adversely affecting more than 1.3 million people and that the “rulers cannot save themselves from the wrath of so many people, no matter how powerful they think they are”.