PESHAWAR
In order to encourage local community participation for land registration and settlement process in newly merged areas, the US Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Land Registration in Merged Areas Activity (LRMA) held a consultation meeting with all stakeholders, including government officials and local community members.
According to a statement issued here on Thursday, the consultation held under the name of “Hujra Meetings” in Peshawar and was first meeting in the series of seven meeting scheduled to be held in coming days.
The meeting was attended by over 100 government officials, community people attended, elders, and representatives of local organizations.
Muhammad Shoaib, chief of party from LRMA, said the overall aim of the consultations is to encourage community members to participate in land settlement process.
“These meetings will help build trust, raise awareness and encourage people to work together. It is important to create a better and fairer land registration system in the region,” he said.
He said that the effort is a joint work between LRMA and various actors of the provincial government departments concerned such as settlement and digitization of Land Record Project Unit, Settlement Offices, and the Office of the Additional Commissioner General.
He furthered that the USAID is assisting the KP government in streamlining land registration in annexed areas, which is a major cause of individual and tribal conflicts.
Speaking on this occasion, Secretary Revenue Khalid Khan said that land registration and records will help to solve the problems related to land registration and will reduce community level conflicts over the land settlement across the tribal belt, adding that the role of USAID is commendable.
A drama was also presented in the event for public awareness, for which a special stage was prepared in a local hotel and the stage was given the shape of a Pashtun chamber and the costumes of the actors in the drama were also arranged in the context of Pashtun culture.
In this event, a presentation on USAID’s land registration project was also organized. Keeping in view the Pashtun culture and Hujra values, traditional music and mushaira were also organized.
The audience was enriched with information and awareness. Local elders, leaders, youths declared the activities useful for awareness about land registration.
