LAHORE: Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi has announced that the province will have five new districts.

The district status will be given to Taunsa Sharif, Murree, Wazirabad, Talagang and Kot Addu.

The chief minister said the five districts were being made on the instructions of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan. At a meeting chaired by the chief minister at his office on Friday,

Senior Member Board of Revenue (SMBR) Zahid Akhtar Zaman gave a briefing on new districts in Punjab.

With the creation of new districts, Mr Elahi said the health and other facilities would be improved for the masses due to improvement in administrative matters. He said the decision to create new districts had been made keeping in mind the convenience of the parliamentarians and the people as fruits of development would reach the doorstep of the ordinary people.

He said the new districts would be put on the path of financial independence. On the demand of Mohsin Leghari, he said, work had also been started on making Jampur a district and a final decision would be taken in the next few days.

The chief minister said the promises he had made with the people eventually materialised. “I announced giving the status of a district to Taunsa in a public meeting of Kh Shiraz MNA in 2005; and also announced the making of Talagang a district in a large gathering of people arranged by former provincial minister Hafiz Ammar Yasir in 2018,” he said. He said he had also approved making Taunsa and Talagang districts now. Similarly, he said, Murree, Wazirabad and Kot Addu were also considered and approved to be transformed into districts.

The assembly members from Taunsa Sharif, Murree, Wazirabad, Talagang and Kot Addu expressed their gratitude to the chief minister for approving the district status and said people would always remember his decision. They said Mr Elahi had won their hearts by fulfilling the long-standing public demand.

Former chief minister Usman Buzdar said he was grateful to Imran Khan and Chief Minister Parvez Elahi for making Taunsa Sharif a district and this would help remove deprivations of the people of the area.

The meeting was attended by former federal minister Moonis Elahi, provincial ministers Basharat Raja, Mohsin Leghari, Raja Yasir Humayun, MPAs from respective areas including Kh Shiraz Mahmood, Mohammad Khan Leghari, Hafiz Ammar Yasir, Kh Daud Sulemani, and the chief secretary.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2022