“Recovering the forest land from land grabbers and encroachers is Government’s top priority to increase green cover of Pakistan.” said Prime Minister Imran Khan while chairing a meeting of the National Coordinating Committee (NCC) on Housing, Construction & Development.
The Prime Minister directed the authorities concerned to take immediate steps to multiply country’s forest cover by ensuring forestation on encroached lands.
He added,”Curbing on unauthorised land use and restricting horizontal sprawl of housing societies is essential to ensure food security and the provision of better civic amenities like water and sewerage.”
The Prime Minister directed that the cadastral survey findings should be shared with the provinces and it should be followed by swift action to retrieve public property.
He directed the provinces and CDA to determine how many encroachments were made in the past and how many have been cleared. He declared that he will personally chair the fortnightly meetings to see what progress is made.
He underlined that the Government is accountable to the people of Pakistan and it is its top priority to protect Government land. He emphasised on adopting systematic approach to deal with Qabza mafia. He directed the Chairman CDA to create a special cell to save valuable public land marked for parks and forests.
Earlier the Prime Minister was apprised that Surveyor General of Pakistan is working in active coordinating with CDA, Government of the Punjab and Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) to complete the cadastral records of Government properties, Islamabad, Lahore and Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB).
The meeting was attended by Advisor on Finance Shaukat Fayyaz Tarin, MOS on Information & Broadcasting Farrukh Habib, SAPM on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam, SAPM on Political Communication Dr Shehbaz Gill, Governor State Bank Dr Reza Baqir and senior officers concerned.
Chief Secretary Punjab and senior officers concerned from the Government of Punjab joined the meeting via video link.
