Delimitation decision: Lahore to have 271 union councils

8 new UCs were added to the preliminary list in response to citizens’ complaints.

LAHORE:

The district government on Monday issued a notice announcing that Lahore had been divided into 271 union councils. 

The notification of the new lists was issued late on Monday. The final delimitation list was published on Sunday. It became public on Tuesday.

Staff Officer to the DCO Tariq Zaman said the delay had occurred because the DCO had been very busy on Monday.

According to the notification, UC 1 to UC 120 are in the City tehsil, UC 121 to 176 in Shalimar tehsil, UC 177 to UC 194 in Cantt tehsil, UC 195 to UC 254 in Model Town tehsil and UC 255 to UC 271 in Raiwind tehsil.



According to the preliminary delimitation plan issued on October 10, Lahore had been divided into 263 union councils [it had 150 union councils when local council elections were held last time]. The number of union councils rose to 271 after the DCO accepted some objections. UC 1 that had been part of Cantt tehsil has now been shifted to City tehsil.

Complaints

A total of 266 complaints were heard by the then Delimitation Officer Naseem Sadiq on October 20 and October 21.

According to the local government department, 310 complaints had been received and later sent to the commissioner’s office [also the delimitation authority]. The complainants were called for hearing on October 31 and November 1 to argue their complaints.

Additional Local Government Director Syed Anjum Shakeel Gillani said that the delimitation authority had declared 54 complaints valid. The eight additional union councils were created in response to these complaints.

The population of a union council now varies between 18,000 to 27,000 people. The average population of a union council is 21,000.

Gillani said one of the complainants had disputed the change in union councils’ numbers.



If Lahore began at Shahdara, why was UC 1 in Cantt tehsil, the applicant had asked.  The commissioner then moved UC 1 to City tehsil.

Some union councils had been dissected by the Metro Bus route and the residents complained about the long commute to reach the other part of the union council. Some people had also requested changes in the delimitation based on schools and hospitals in some areas.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 6^th, 2013.