Rawalpindi stripped of metropolitan status
Issues like encroachment with the main artery of Rawalpindi, Muree Road, being blocked due to the construction of the Metro Bus Project engulfed the city during 2015. PHOTO: FILE
The Rawalpindi Metropolitan Corporation (RMC) has been reduced to the rank of a municipal corporation after the Punjab government restored the Local Government Act 2019.
Similarly, the Rawalpindi District Council has been restored
Under the restored LG system, the number of local bodies in the Rawalpindi district has been decreased to eight, having two municipal corporations, five municipal committees and one district council.
The tehsil and town system has also been abolished once again. All Rawalpindi's rural areas would now fall under the district council, while the city areas of tehsils will fall under the municipal committees. The Rawalpindi District Council will have a total of 120 union councils, making Rawalpindi the largest district council of Punjab in terms of union councils.
Murree, Kotli Sattian, Kahuta, Kallar Syedan, Gujjar Khan and Taxila have been designated as municipal committees. Murree has also been given the status of a municipal corporation.
All five municipal committees, two municipal corporations and the district council have been ordered by the Ministry of Local Government to individually propose their budgets for the next fiscal year 2022-23.
The Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation will have 46 union councils, Gujjar Khan Municipal Committee will 25, Kallar Syedan Municipal Committee will have 10, and Kahuta and Kotli Sattian Municipal Committees will have 15 and 10 union councils respectively.
Employees and assets of the district's seven former tehsil councils will be transferred to the district council after the restoration of the old LG system.
Tehsil councils' vehicles, machinery and budgets have also been ordered to be transferred to the district council. Seven former tehsil councils' government bank accounts have also been frozen, and they will no longer be allowed to withdraw money from these accounts. All of these accounts will be moved to the district council accounts.
The administrators of the restored eight new local bodies assumed charge of the office on Monday. Assistant commissioners have been appointed as administrators of municipal committees. The deputy commissioner will be the district council administrator, while the commissioner will be the municipal corporation administrator.
The bureaucracy will now prepare the budget for these eight local bodies for the next fiscal year. All the restored municipal bodies will have to face a deficit in their new budget.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 14th, 2022.