Land occupied by 150 Petrol Pumps would be leased out again : Basharat Raja

Lahore : Minister Local Government, Law & Parliamentary Affairs Punjab Muhammad Basharat Raja has said that the state land occupied by 150 Petrol Pumps in Punjab would be leased out via open auction and transparently to earn maximum revenue for Punjab kitty.

He was presiding over a meeting held on Tuesday to review the proposed policy framework for disposal of leased state lands across Punjab.

The meeting was also attended among others by the Provincial ministers Mian Mehmood-ul-Rasheed, Mian Aslam Iqbal, Raja Yasir Humayun, Muhammad Sibtain Khan, Col. ® Malik Muhammad Anwar, Malik Nauman Ahmad Langrial, Hafiz Mumtaz Ahmad, Senior Member Board of Revenue (SMBR), Secretary Law and other officers.

The meeting was apprised of the amended policy by SMBR who explained that about 2.18 Lac Acre state-land was leased out to 75000 to 80000 families since years for agriculture purpose. He said that the lease agreement was required to either extend or end with the sale of land to the cultivator.

He suggested that if the government would opt to sale out the land, it might bring billions of rupees to the government. The house decided for further discussions on this matter and advised the SMBR to come up with new proposed rates and suggestions in next meeting.

The Minister for Law assured that the state lands would be auctioned through Privatization Board Punjab under law. It was also decided that the private housing schemes occupying state land in form of water courses, public ways or ponds would be given option to either provide the alternative land of similar cost to the Punjab Government or deposit its cost in accordance with the prevailing market price.