City’s bifurcation into dists on the cards

CM to review plan for reorganisation of depts

LAHORE:

The authorities concerned have prepared a plan to implement a decision to divide Lahore into two parts with respect to administration, management and finance to cope with problems caused by an increasing population.

The decision to divide the city into two districts is aimed at solving the problems of the citizens and boosting business activities.

According to sources, the Punjab chief minister will give final approval of the plan regarding the functions of various departments after the reorganisation.

The previous chief minister had formed a committee headed by the senior member of the Board of Revenue and including the Lahore commissioner, deputy commissioner and officers of the revenue, police and other departments to present a report regarding administrative and financial aspects of the proposal the chief secretary.

The committee held several meetings during which it reviewed a suggestion to divide Lahore into four parts, like Karachi had been in the past, but it was rejected due to shortage of officers and resources required to implement it.

The majority of the members of the committee agreed on the suggestion to divide Lahore into two parts. A recommendation that the regions would be called Lahore Saddar and City was accepted by the committee.

The sources said it had also been decided that the Ferozwala tehsil of Sheikhupura district would be included in one of the two districts of Lahore.

Both districts will have three tehsils each.

The committee reviewed proposals to divide the city across the Multan or Mall road. The revenue officials, including patwaris, will also fall under the separate districts.

Similarly, the metropolitan corporation, Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA), Lahore Development Authority (LDA), Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA), police and other departments will be divided.

It was suggested that the Ferozwala, Lahore, city and Shalimar tehsils should merged into one district and Model Town, Raiwind and cantonment in the other.

Under the plan, there will be one commissioner, two deputy commissioners, two district police officers, two additional commissioners (revenue) and two additional commissioners (general) in the provincial capital.

The buildings, offices and other assets of the departments will also be divided.

Government officials believe that the reorganisation would require more officers to administer the city with additional expenses.

The Lahore Metropolitan Corporation currently comprises of nine towns for providing municipal services.

Some officials have also reportedly suggested that the additional commissioners should be appointed at the tehsil level.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Lahore Commissioner Mohammed Amir said division of the provincial capital was necessary. After it, problems of people will be solved near their homes and the officers would be able to serve them more efficiently because of reduced workload.

Meetings to implement the proposal are being held in several departments and there are many meetings going on in this regard in different departments.

The commissioner said the proposed formulas for dividing the resources and responsibilities were ready for submission to the chief minister and work on their implementation would begin after his approval.

An urban development expert, Dr Nasir Javed, said the city was growing and the decision to divide it was good.

However, he said, the division should be carried out while keeping in view the management issues rather than the traditional way of depending upon the maps maintained by the patwaris.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14^th, 2022