Firdous accuses Sharifs of patronising land mafia.

SIALKOT -- Special Assistant to Chief Minister (SACM) on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan has said that performance of all 115 land record centers and 20 mobile land centers in Punjab is satisfactory.

Talking to the media at a land record centre at Kobey Chak near here on Saturday, she said that hectic efforts were being made on the directives of Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar to enhance capacity of these centers. She said the government had decided to make these centers computerized in order to ensure quick service. 'Besides that, the government also plans to expand the land revenue computerization network to union councils across Punjab to facilitate people,' she informed. SACM further said the government was abolishing the traditional patwari system in Punjab and was bringing village officer system in its place instead.

She informed that the government would soon establish a Revenue Academy in Lahore for the training of the revenue department staff. She accused the Sharif brothers of always supporting the land mafia whenever they remained in power.

Dr Firdous said that there existed an agreement between the Board of Revenue, Punjab and the Federal Board of Revenue under which these two departments were sharing their data. She further said that the system of properties' registration had been computerized in 100 tehsils of Punjab, as the provincial government had started work for printing and upgrading the 'Jama Bandi'.

Dr Firdous disclosed that 140,000 acres of land had been retrieved from the land mafia across Punjab during the last two years. 'The worth of this land is Rs1000 billion,' she added. She said that the land transfer procedure had been made easy for farmers at banks, enabling them to get the 'Fard' of their lands easily under the 'One Window...