The Pakistan Railways (PR) owns 168,858 acres of land across the country, but 13,115 acres (7.7%) of it is under illegal occupation, with a big portion controlled by various government and defence departments, Minister for Railways Hanif Abbasi informed the National Assembly in response to questions raised by MNAs Shazia Marri and Sher Afzal Marwat.
As per a news report, the minister provided a breakdown of the encroachments across provinces. Punjab has the largest share of illegally occupied land, with 5,717 acres, followed by Sindh with 5,590 acres. The figures for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan are significantly lower, with 775 and 1,033 acres, respectively.
According to the minister, 3,999 acres of land are under the illegal control of government and defence sectors, with the remaining encroached areas used for agricultural, commercial, and residential purposes. PR has been able to recover over 2,550 acres in the past five years, though no recovery has been made from the government or defence departments.
The largest category of occupation is agricultural, with 4,773 acres occupied by individuals or departments, followed by 3,999 acres by government and defence bodies. Residential use accounts for 3,266 acres, and commercial use amounts to 712 acres.
Despite recovering land from private individuals and organisations in the past five years, no land has been reclaimed from government and defence departments. PR has successfully retrieved 1,078 acres from Punjab, 837 acres from Sindh, 419 acres from Balochistan, and 218 acres from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The minister noted that government departments’ unauthorized possession of land is being regularized through lease agreements under the Railway Land Policy, while commercial encroachments are being dealt with through the Remedial Policy, involving upfront premiums and arrears. Regular anti-encroachment operations are also being carried out.
Between 2020 and June 2025, 5,182 encroachment cases were reported, with a high conviction rate of 96.71%. PR has generated Rs13.9 billion in revenue from leasing and licensing railway land over the past three financial years.
