Rawalpindi UCs slashed for third time

Due to the restoration of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) era local government system of 2013, the number of union councils (UCs) of the Metropolitan Corporation Rawalpindi (MCR), which has been relegated for the third time from 78, now stands at 46.

The number of local bodies in the district has also reduced to 13 from 19. With the restoration of the district council, the number of its union has increased to 120.

The 24 village union councils of Potohar town have again been downgraded from the status of urban union councils and included in the district councils whereas the status of Municipal Corporation has been retained in Murree.

At present, the Rawalpindi district has one district council, 120 UCs, Municipal Corporation Rawalpindi, Municipal Corporation Murree, municipal committees in Kotli Sattian, Kahuta, Gujar Khan, Taxila, and Kallar Syedan ​​ and five Cantonment Boards including Rawalpindi, Chaklala, Taxila, Wah Cantt and Murree.

All seven tehsil councils of the district have been merged into the district council. With the restoration of this old system, the status of their heads has also changed. The administrator of the municipal corporation will now be the commissioner, the district council administrator will be the deputy commissioner and the administrator of municipal committees will now be the assistant commissioner. All of them have also taken charge of these local bodies.

With the restoration of the old system, the jurisdiction of the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) has also ended from the 24 UCs.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2023.