LAHORE - The Punjab Anti-Corruption Department with the help of the Bahawalnagar district administration on Sunday conducted a joint operation in Chishtian against illegal occupants and retrieved 1125 acres of state land.

The operation was launched on the instructions of the director general of the Anti-corruption Establishment (ACE), Punjab, an official said.

The retrieved state land costing Rs 1.5billion was owned by the Punjab Irrigation Department. But it was under the use of illegal occupants including Ehsan-ul-Haq Bajwa, PML-N MNA, and Arshad Gujjar in Chishtian, district Bahawalnagar.

A spokesman for the anti-corruption department said that acting on a source report, Bahawalpur Director ACE Imran Raza Abbasi constituted a special team comprising Deputy Director and Assistant Director which conducted inquiry of the state land.

According to the findings of the inquiry report, the state land was under the use of illegal occupants for a long period of time. The inquiry report also revealed that 6000-Kanal state land is still under illegal use of the same occupants and a joint operation is underway in this regard.