Sindh cabinet cancels 'illegal allotment' of 70,000acre forestland.

KARACHI -- Sindh Cabinet on Monday cancelled 'illegally allotted' 70,000 acres of forestland, and approved retrieving 145,245 acres of forestland occupied by influential. The decision was taken in a cabinet meeting here at New Sindh secretariat on Monday, presided over by chief minister Murad Ali Shah was attended by Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, all provincial ministers, advisors and special assistants. Murad Shah asked the Forest department to get support of police and rangers for vacation of illegal occupation over an area of 145,245 acres. 70,000 acres of forestland 'illegally allotted' was cancelled and the Revenue department and forest department would issue such cancellation orders.

Minister Forest Syed Nasir Shah told the meeting that 13,000 acres have already been retrieved from occupants. Minister Energy Imtiaz Shaikh told the cabinet that 757 families living in one kilometer radius of Gorano Dam and Dukkur Chho Pond should be considered as affected people apart from those 471 who have been displaced due to development/excavation of thar Coalfield Block-II. The cabinet approved Rs900 million as donation for Thar Foundation which would be given at rate of Rs100000 annually to each and every affected family for the next 30 years.

The Thar Foundation would invest the amount and...