LAHORE: Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar said Tuesday that the PTI government was implementing a zero-tolerance policy against Qabza mafia and encroachments. So far; 144,439 acres of land worth Rs 425 billion got vacated from the Qabza mafia, he said.

He added, “Soon after coming to power; the PTI government has started indiscriminate accountability process and on the instructions of Prime Minister Imran Khan launched a crackdown against Qabza mafia. All the state institutions exhibited bravery and courage to break the backbone of Qabza mafia.”

While addressing a news conference here Tuesday, the CM said the former government set up illegal housing societies, petrol pumps, cinemas houses, commercial plazas, wagon stands by occupying the state land; they were involved in tax evasion, theft of conversion fee and other taxes as well. They left no stone unturned to weaken the national institutions, he said, adding: “The national exchequer suffered loss of billions of rupees during the previous governments as the politicians joined hands with the corrupt elements.”

He said the same Qabza mafia had grabbed the land of various government departments for many years including 90,516 kanal land of the Auqaf department and 5,997 acres of land of forests department.

Usman Buzdar said he had issued instructions to law enforcement agencies and secretaries of the concerned departments to launch a crackdown against the Qabza mafia to vacate the state lands from their possession. He said strict legal action would be taken against the Qabza mafia.

He said, “I do not care opponents’ criticism for the sake of criticism. I have come to serve the people as it is my only mission,” he added.

He said the incumbent government was determined to provide maximum relief to the people of the province and like the raise in the salaries of federal employees, the salaries of provincial employees would also be raised.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021