GUJRAT: Despite the issuance of a fresh notification confirming Gujrat as the 10th administrative division of Punjab three months back, the key administrative and police posts at divisional level were lying vacant, while no budget has been allocated so far to make the new division functional.

Even after passage of three months, the Punjab government has failed to post divisional commissioner, regional police officer (RPO) and other heads of departments at the divisional level.

Moreover, official sources says that the allocation of the budget to run the affairs of the new division had also not been made so far.

Punjab’s former chief minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi had notified Gujrat as the 10th division of the province in August 2022, while the incumbent provincial government had again issued a notification on December 18, 2024 confirming it as a division comprising Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, Hafizabad and Wazirabad districts.

The district’s status was elevated three months back

The issue of the delay in allocation of budget for the new division needed to be addressed by the provincial government, a senior administrative official told Dawn on Sunday.

He added that the last notification had also confirmed Jalalpur Jattan and Kunjah as new tehsils of Gujrat district. On the recommendation of Deputy Commissioner Safdar Virk, the provincial government had handed over the additional charge of both these tehsils to Gujrat Assistant Commisioner Bilal Zubair.

On the other hand, the additional charge of Gujrat commissioner and RPO was also being held by Gujranwala Commissioner Naveed Haider Sheerazi and RPO Tayab Hafeez Cheema for the last couple of years.

The caretaker Punjab chief minister Mohsin Naqvi had denotified the Gujrat division in February 2023 after which the first ever Gujrat Commissioner Ahmed Kamal and RPO were removed. However, the Lahore High Court had restored the Gujrat division by suspending the notification of caretaker government in the same month.

Even the newly created Wazirabad district could not get the deputy commissioner, district police officer and other heads of the government departments. The additional charge of the DC and DPO is also being currently held by Gujranwala DC and city police officer (CPO) for the last couple of years.

Official sources say that in principle the additional charge of Wazirabad should have been given to Gujrat DC and DPO as was done initially after the city’s elevation to district in 2022.

A senior administrative official said that the budget for Gujrat division was likely to be approved by the provincial government in the coming provincial budget to be presented in June 2024, after which the division may become practically functional.

He said search for a new site to establish the divisional offices in Gujrat, might also be started once the budget was approved as the previously selected land for the purpose near Machiana village was disallowed by the LHC due to the existence of a big forest and the Upper Jhelum Canal syphon there.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2025