GUJRAT: In a fresh letter to the provincial home department, the Punjab Police have sought upgradation of the Shaheen Chowk police checkpost to a full-fledged police station through bifurcation of the Civil Lines police station.

The police had recommended bifurcation of at least eight police stations around eight years ago when five new stations had been added into the district with the total number rising to 22. But the case for upgrading at least three checkposts to police stations, including the Shaheen Chowk one, Mangowal post in Kunjah and Dinga city checkpost, was still pending with the home department for approval and allocation of funds.

However, sources said Gujrat District Police Officer Rai Ijaz Ahmad had launched fresh efforts to get the approval for bifurcation of at least the Civil Lines police station, the city’s most thickly populated comprising congested localities. The number of cases registered here was around 1,000 per year.

Gujrat comprises 15 union councils with a population of 500,000 with four police stations. But interestingly eight union councils were included in the Civil Lines police station and the remaining seven were controlled by three police stations: A division, B division and Lorry Adda.

The areas falling under the Civil Lines police limits were notorious for heinous crimes such as murders, robberies, street crimes, kidnapping for ransom and others.

Offices of the district administration, police, district courts and the city’s outskirts had also been under its jurisdiction for long.

The issue of Kunjah police station was no different. The small towns of Kunjah, Mangowal and Shadiwal as well as six more union councils of rural areas were under its jurisdiction. It covered a large area, which was why the Mangowal checkpost could not be converted into a police station through bifurcation. The number of registered cases here varied between an alarming 800 and 1,000 per year.

The Dinga checkpost had also been proposed to be converted into a police station after bifurcation of Dinga police station that too covered large rural union councils besides two urban UCs of Dinga city. The number of cases registered here was 800 to 1,000 annually.

The Gujrat police had recommended creation of three more police stations. But a special request had been made to the Punjab inspector general office through the regional police officer to give priority to upgrading the Shaheen Chowk checkpost along Gujrat-Sargodha Road.

Official sources said the additional inspector general (development) on behalf of the IG had written a letter to the home department for approval of bifurcation of Civil Lines police station and allocation of Rs38 million for creation of Shaheen Chowk station.

enrollment: The district government has constituted 1,300 committees at the village level in the district for the enrolment of students from primary to high school level.

The committees comprise elders and influential figures of each village.

District Coordination Officer Liaqat Ali Chattha on Tuesday inaugurated the Punjab government’s universal primary and secondary education programme at three different schools of rural areas of all the three tehsils of the district. Executive District Officer (Education) Kashif Tahir and others also accompanied him.

The DCO said the Punjab government had set a target of enrolling at least 83,000 students between five to 16 years old in the schools of Gujrat district.

The district government, he said, wanted to enroll more students than the target given by the provincial government.