April 19, 2006	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 20, 1427

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GILGIT, April 18: The Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi bench, on Tuesday issued a notice to the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas on a petition regarding establishment of the headquarters of the newly-created district of Astore.

The petition was filed by Ramzan Ali of the Eidgah town, Astore. Mr Ali is the chairman of the Eidgah Union Council.

He sought early implementation of a notification issued by the Ministry of KANA on Nov 12, 2004, creating the district of Astore with its headquarters at Eidgah.

The petitioner regretted that the local administration of Northern Areas which functioned as co-department of the KANA ministry had proposed the Gorikote village as the district headquarters.

He said the proposal was violation of directives of the federal government and of fundamental rights of the people of Eidgah and its surrounding villages.

He claimed that the existing headquarters of Astore at Eidgah had been serving as the headquarters of the area for 200 years and almost all government buildings and other offices were located in the town. He said shifting of the headquarters to Gorikote would increase burden on the government exchequer.

Meanwhile, sources said the deputy commissioner of Astore had invited tenders on April 24 for constructing government buildings in Gorikote.