Make full use of idle land, Perak govt agencies told

IPOH: Perak Public Accounts Committee chairman Datuk Seri Raja Ahmad Zainuddin Raja Omar on March 2 called on government agencies in the state to make full use of their idle land to prevent them from being occupied by squatters.

He said the agencies could get advice and information from the district and land office on how to utilise the land.

"There are agencies which simply left their land idle and, at the end of the day, found it occupied or used by other people. If this situation persists, development cannot take place, especially when efforts to relocate them (squatters) fail.

"For example, there is a Drainage and Irrigation Department-owned idle land, which has been turned into a vegetable farm (by squatters), thus hampering the department's staff from performing their duties," he told Bernama here.

He said the PAC would monitor the matter and convene a meeting with the relevant agencies to prevent the problem from becoming rampant. -- Bernama