GHAZNI CITY (Pajhwok): Government land measuring 15,000 acres has been wrested back from usurpers in Ab Band district of southern Ghazni province, the Land Grab Prevention Commission said on Wednesday.
Maulvi Idris Hanif, agriculture, irrigation and livestock director and chief of the land grab prevention committee, told Pajhwok Aghan News the government land was freed in Tudeh China, Spain Band, Bazgi Dukohi and center of the district.
He said dozens of people had been arrested for usurping the state land, but they were released after assurances that they would not usurp government land in future
He added: “The illegal occupants had built some structures including boundary walls and cultivated crops on the reclaimed land, which were demolished by security forces.”
“After the provincial capital, the Ghazni chapter of the Land Grab Prevention Commission jerked into action in 18 districts of the province to free millions of acres of state land from usurpers.” Hanif said.
According to him, the commission was working fast to recover all grabbed land and they had so far reclaimed about 550,000 acres of government land in the provincial capital and districts.
Residents of Ghazni city and some districts hailed the recovery of usurped government land and said powerful individuals and former government officials had usurped large swaths of government land in the province.
Kabir, a resident of Ghazni city, told Pajhwok that the government should arrest all usurpers and hold them accountable and hand them over to the law so that no one else commit such a practice in the future.
He added: “This commission should function equally in all regions and districts.”
Agha Mohammad, a tribal elder, also said powerful individuals were involved in looting state properties during the past two decades.
The eleven member-committee has representatives from police headquarters, courts, intelligence, prosecution and the municipality and it was created based on the order of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) supreme leader.
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