PAF Aeronautical Complex near Nawabshah: 571 acres of land documents handed over to AVM Arshad

Sindh Chief Secretary Ghulam Ali Pasha on Wednesday handed over the legal documents of 571acres of land to Air Vice Martial Arshad Qudoos for establishment of PAF Aeronautical Complex near Nawabshah in a simple ceremony held at Darbar Hall, Nawabshah City.
Information Secretary Mumtaz Ali Shah, Secretary Education Ilmuddin Bullo, Secretary Forest Mushtaque Ahmed Memon, DCO Nawabshah Jamal Mustafa, officers from Pakistan Air force and district government were present in the ceremony. The Chief Secretary said that the land was being provided to PAF for enhancement and establishment of PAF Aeronautical Complex here at Nawabshah to provide modern skills and job opportunities to the local people. He said that this project would have capacity to absorb 4,000 to 5,000 youths of the district and also to provide technical opportunities to many more, enabling them to get jobs at other sister organisations as well.
He said that efforts were being made to complete this project within six to twelve months. He said that the government has acquired the land, and compensation to owners of the land was in progress and hopefully it would be completed within a month. He said that this project would not only be fruitful for the people of district of Benazirabad but also for the people of other districts as well.
Later talking to the media, Ghulam Ali said that the land had been acquired transparently and on market rate under the Land Acquisition Rules of the Government. He said that 7.3 million people, 1,80,000 cattle and standing crops on 2.4 million acres land were affected, damaged, and destroyed due to flood. He said that the government was actively engaged in reconstruction and rehabilitation activities with its own resources and also looking for foreign aid in this regard. He said that in this activity the foreign friends of Pakistan has raised question that "what we are contributing to generate the fund" in this regard.
He said that this was a genuine question and as such the government has decided to impose onetime flood tax on cotton, sugarcane production and big houses in the province. The Chief Secretary added that the areas under flood water would be exempted from this tax. He said that besides it has also been decided to save some amounts from own resources as such the Annual Development Budget was being re-prioritised, and added that some development schemes have to face 50 percent deduction of the allocation.
About encroachments on the land of katcha areas, the Chief Secretary said that the present government is very much serious to eliminate such previous practice. He said that now the legislation has been made in the Assembly and law has been amended in which the encroachment on the state land has been converted into heinous crime. He said that in order to implement this law the Anti Encroachment Force has been established with the support of its 4 stations in the province. He said that not only this but two courts one for tribunal and one trial court were being established.
He said that tribunal would be headed by a retired judge of High Court who decides whether the person under investigation/allegation has occupied state land illegally or not. He said that in case he was found involved in allegation his case would be submitted to the trial court for prosecution/litigation by the tribunal. He said that the trial court would be headed by sitting Sessions Judge.
He said that henceforth land lease in katcha areas would not be given to any one but would be given to the landless farmers of the areas on the basis of proprietary rights under the revise policy of present government. He said that strict vigilance was being done on the river bed and forest land and no one would be allowed to build his private embankments, occupy forest land for his interest. He said that under the amended law whosoever encroached state land or built private bund would have to face the conviction of 10 years imprisonment.
About planning to avoid flood devastation in future, he said that indigenous engineers, experts and foreign consultant firms have been engaged to devise a system and foolproof mechanism to meet the flood challenges in future. He said that a Chinese firm has been engaged for conducting survey in this regard. He said that government has planned to increase the discharge capacity of Sukkur Barrage from 9 to 20 lac cusecs. Similarly the capacity of other barrages would also be increased. He said that in addition to that re-strengthening of embankments of Indus
River, canals and Regulatory System of Irrigation department has also been included in future planning. The Chief Secretary said that the Sindh government was planning de-watering the areas still under flood water, and efforts were being made to complete this task before the cultivation of Rabi crops.