MANSEHRA, Sept 15: The district administration on Saturday launched an operation to recover evacuee department’s land encroached by some people in Mansehra, Balakot and Oghi tehsils.

District coordination officer Amber Ali Khan has ordered the operation in accordance with the Peshawar High Court ruling to retrieve the land of evacuee department from encroachers. The retrieved land would be earmarked for graveyards as per the court orders.

Led by judicial magistrate Islamuddin the officials of revenue department, tehsil municipal administration and police launched the operation in Balakot and demolished seven houses built on the encroached land.

The TMA Balakot had served legal notices on encroachers a week ago warning them to vacate the land. Heavy machinery was used in demolition of houses of Mohammad Aslam, Mohammad Ikram, Ghulam Hussain, Mohammad Ulfat, Mohammad Arif, Lawaris Khan and Gul Arif in Battaker Garlat area of Balakot, officials said.

Others, including Tariq Hussain, Hakim Khan, Arif Khan, Saeed Ahmad and Hidayatullah, had voluntarily vacated the land before the operation.

Judicial magistrate Mohammad Nasir led the operation in Oghi where the officials started the operation from Kot Tashkand area where people sought time for shifting of their household goods from the encroached land. The encroachers had vacated six kanals of land voluntarily.

After recovering occupied land in Kot Tashkand the operation would be extended to other areas of Oghi tehsil.

Sources said that an operation is likely to start in Mansehra within next three days to retrieve the land of evacuee department.

RESCUER KILLED: A local rescuer was killed by poisonous gas while he was trying to retrieve the body of a miner from a coalmine in Kanshian area of Balakot on Saturday.

Eyewitnesses said that two miners, Abid Hussain, 27, and his cousin Zaid, 17, fell prey to poisonous gas inside an under-construction coalmine on Friday evening. — Correspondent