SANGHAR, June 21: Duplicate allotment of agricultural lands in 20 dehs of the Sanghar taluka has caused disputes between army personnel and local people.

Revenue officials have claimed that 14,297 acres have been retained in excess to 1,30,000 acres by the armed forces. The land had been allocated to the armed forces by the Board of Revenue, West Pakistan, Lahore, in 1960.

Since then, 1,43,455 acres of land have been allotted to 2,403 army personnel of different ranks in Sadhrat Samathori, Jakhrao, Mithrao, Khadwori, Dim, Dubi-I and II, Sinhori, Bakkar, Bakhoro, Makhi, Awadh, Linb and other dehs at Rs50 per acre, payable in 10 years.

In some dehs, the land has still not been surveyed due to sand dunes or for other reasons. The trouble started when the colonization officer, Sukkur Barrage, allotted the state land to landless local peasants in open kutchehris. The officer had notified the area before allotting it to peasants.

However, when peasants levelled the land after payment of instalments, the officer commanding, Military Families Rehabilitation Office (MFRO), stopped them from cultivation through the revenue officer on the plea that it was a military land.

It was despite the fact that the colonization officer of the Sukkur Barrage in letter No. G3-3-3256, dated July 8, 1988, to the secretary for land utilization had stated that the MFRO, Hyderabad, officer commanding had already retained about 1,427 acres of land in excess to the allocation in Makhi Dhand area.

He had further said that allocation in the 20 dehs had to be restricted to avert reservation of all 1,30,000 acres of land. Besides, another piece of 10,000 acres of land is reserved for an army farm in Deh Kari Chan, Sinjhoro taluka.

According to Sukkur Barrage officials, whenever a proper survey of the land was made, it was bound to exceed the allocated land. But the military estate department and the MFRO have allotted lands to defence personnel outside allocated boundaries which has caused disputes and the aggrieved local people have approached courts for seeking justice.

Buland Khan, Abdul Sattar and Mohammad Ilyas of the Sher Khan Chandio village observed that they had got 16 acres of land each in an open kutchehry held on July 17, 1997, in which they said the MFRO officer commanding was also present.

The peasants said despite they had paid instalments for the land, their allotment was cancelled without informing them in 2004 by the EDO, revenue, on the plea of duplication. The EDO allotted the land to Major (rtd) M. Y. K. Abbasi, they regretted.

Many people have lodged such complaints that their lands have been allotted to defence personnel. Some of army officers who have got more than 50 acres of land are Brig Abdul Razzaq (64 acres in Deh Sinhori), Maj-Gen Sikandar Hayat (80 acres in Deh Sinhori), Maj-Gen Abdul Qadir (80 acres), Maj-Gen Ashfaq Ahmad Khan (80 acres), Maj-Gen Iqbal Akbar Khan (80 acres), Maj-Gen Tariq Hameed (80 acres), Maj-Gen Asif Durraz (80 acres), Maj-Gen Faheem Akhtar (80 acres), Maj-Gen Ali Baz (80 acres), Maj-Gen Shahid Aziz (80 acres), Maj-Gen Shahid Hamid (80 acres), Maj-Gen Javed Alam (80 acres), Maj-Gen Khalid Munir (80 acres), Maj-Gen Malik Iftikhar (80 acres), Brig Suleman Bashir (80 acres) and others. These lands were allotted during 1999-2000.