GUJRAT: The existence of Gujrat as the divisional headquarter is ‘under serious threat’, it is learnt.

The districts of Hafizabad and Wazirabad, presently part of Gujrat, may again he made part of Gujranwala division.

The proposal is under serious consideration of the caretaker set-up in Punjab, well placed sources in the regional administration told Dawn. The reversal of Gujrat to the level of district has already been hinted at in recent reshuffle of bureaucracy in the province.

Sources say instead of posting new officers after the transfer of Commissioner Ahmed Kamal and Regional Police Officer Dr Akhtar Abbas of Gujrat division, the Punjab government has decided to run the new division by giving additional charge to the Gujranwala commissioner and RPO.

Several senior administrative officers who recently served in the region told Dawn since the political leadership and civil society of Hafizabad and Wazirabad districts has already been opposing their inclusion into Gujrat division, chances of their reversal to the Gujranwala division are very much there.

According to them, as a first step there will be no posting of divisional level officers in Gujrat and then in the second step the districts of Hafizabad and Wazirabad may go back to Gujranwala on administrative grounds. In this scenario, Gujrat division may lose the justification of being a divisional headquarter with only two districts.

Another official source says political rivals of PML-Q’s Parvez Elahi camp in the region may not support the existence of divisional headquarter for the time being to frustrate former coalition partners.

However, the Gujrat District Bar Association has opposed any idea to reverse the decision of making Gujrat a divisional headquarter.

DBA president Zakaullah Sohi and secretary Malik Usman, in a joint statement, vowed to resist the reported plan. Senior PPP leader and adviser to prime minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, while speaking to media a few days ago, had said that he would not support the idea to reverse the divisional status. At the same time, he said, divisional level offices were not as much important for the masses as the district could be. He also promised to oppose any effort to snatch land from farmers in the guise of establishing the divisional complex.

Gujrat was upgraded as a divisional headquarter through a notification issued on August 17, 2022, by the then Punjab government of chief minister Parvez Elahi through bifurcation of Gujranwala division.

Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin and Hafizabad districts had initially been included into Gujrat division. In a second step, Wazirabad was elevated as a district and made part of Gujrat division by the then coalition government of PML-Q and PTI.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2023