LAHORE, Nov 22: The administration of all districts in Punjab was in Lahore on Saturday to listen to the advice of Chief Secretary Javaid Mehmood to entertain divisional commissioners at any cost.

And their presence in the Civil Secretariat here was felt much more than their absence in their respective districts.

Interestingly, the offices of all administrative secretaries in the main Civil Secretariat and elsewhere in Lahore are going to be empty on Tuesday as all of them have been ordered by the chief secretary to assemble in Faisalabad to tell the divisional commissioner there which of their authority he could use.

According to official sources, the secretaries have also been asked to “convince” the DCOs, EDOS and TMOs -- the officers legally authorized to use state authority – to cooperate with commissioners to make the revived cadre successful. The Civil Secretariat witnessed an unusual rush at 7.30am on Saturday when all divisional commissioners, DCOs, EDOs and TMOs reportedly assembled near the Darbar Hall where the chief secretary was to start the meeting at 8am.

Sources said the chief secretary called in every divisional commissioner and DCOs, EDOs and TMOs of districts under him separately, making others wait for their turn.

He began with Dera Ghazi Khan division, and four divisions were still left uncovered at 8pm. Those meeting the chief secretary or waiting for their turn were given sandwiches at lunch time but there was no arrangement for dinner. “They either waited in the side rooms or in their vehicles during the marathon meeting,” an official said.

When asked as to what was the agenda of the meeting, he said it was only a reminder to the DCOs and all officials in districts and tehsils under them that they would have to make the office of divisional commissioner a success.

“Yes, there was no mention of nazims,” the official said when asked whether the meeting was an attempt to reach down to the tehsil level through bureaucratic channel bypassing the elected representatives.

He said since all powers rested with the DCOs, TMOs and their staff, and the commissioners were heavily dependent on their support to justify their raison d’ etre.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that all administrative secretaries had been asked to reach Faisalabad on Monday evening before notifying their defunct divisional offices the same day.

Legally the commissioners could not intervene in districts, and they would be asked to control regional offices of all departments, sources said claiming that departments like irrigation had already conveyed to the chief secretary that they had nothing to share with the commissioners.

The chief secretary was expected to start meeting in Faisalabad at 8am on Tuesday and sources expected it to be another marathon sitting.