BAHAWALPUR: The scrutiny committees have approved 23,684 applications out of the 64,255 for the allotment of land in Cholistan under the chief minister’s uplift package, says Divisional Commissioner Raja Jahangir Anwar.

At a meeting, he said the process of allotment of land would go ahead under government’s five-year lease scheme. He expressed the hope the allotment process would be held on Sept 20 through electronic balloting under the supervision of the Punjab Information Technology Board.

He said the allotment of land to the people of Cholisatan, who are without land or own less than five acres, was delayed for the last eight years. The Cholistan package for the allotment of land along with other welfare measures was announced by former chief minister Shehbaz Sharif in 2014. The process was inordinately delayed even after the applicants fulfilled five conditions to meet the government criteria in 2015.

The PTI government sought new applications and six scrutiny committees headed by respective ACs were constituted but the process was not completed as the government was removed.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2022