KARACHI - About 15 per cent of Sindh’s total 0.6 million acres forest land is under illegal encroachment of influential persons in the province.
During the PAC meeting of Sindh Assembly, which met with its chairman Sardar Jam Tamachi Unar, here at the committee room of assembly on Tuesday, the officials of the forest department told the accountability body that the police do not cooperate with the forest department to get vacate the encroached land of the department and take action against the encroachers.
Forest and Wildlife Secretary Mushtaq Memon and other officials briefed the PAC that the lease policy of forest land was already existed, under which department issues lease of land at the rate of Rs1500 per acre for revenue purpose, while Rs5,000 per acre for agriculture purpose annually.
Officials said that it had been made mandatory to plant trees on the 20 per cent area of leased land, if any lease failed in fulfilling this condition, the department has right to cancel the lease.
They further said that district committees had been formed under district and session judges concerned to protect the forest land and get vacated the encroached land.
Officials, however, added that following the inclusion of judges, police were now taking legal action against encroachers.
They further said the forest department had provided lists of the encroachers, who had devoured the forest land, to the session judges so that action could be taken against them.
The officials unveiled that if encroachers would not vacate the land, the department lease them the said land so that revenue could come in public exchequer.
The secretary of forest department said that finance department, without consulting the forest department, fixes the revenue target so they issue leases of forest land immediately.
Narrating the nexus of the encroachers in any government, the officials said that they won a case against the encroachers in Supreme Court but now some ‘high-ups’ directed the department not to go against them in the Revenue Department.
The officials of the forest department further disclosed that in some areas, the Revenue Department has declared their forest land as their property. “The department is approaching the court against the revenue department on this issue.”
PAC Chairman Jam Tamachi Unar sought that why any lease policy is absent in the department which resulted in the encroachment on the forest land.