GUJRAT: The Punjab government has approved granting of tehsil status to Jalalpur Jattan city; Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is likely to make a formal announcement during his likely visit to Gujrat in the next few weeks.

Well-placed sources in the district government told Dawn the chief minister had issued a directive a few months ago for the grant of tehsil status to Jalalpur Jattan city and asked the district government to work out a feasibility report.

The district government sent a report to the provincial Board of Revenue along with the list of required staff as well as the building needed for offices as a stopgap arrangement.

CM to make formal announcement in few weeks

The Gujrat administration had recommended the status for Jalalpur Jattan on administrative grounds. The proposed tehsil will consist of at least four police stations in Jalalpur Jattan city and Saddar, Tanda and Karianwala as well as six revenue circles of Pero Shah, Tanda and Jalalpur Jattan city etc.

As per the feasibility report, some rooms at the Jalalpur Jattan Municipal Committee had been selected for the tehsil headquarters offices, including that of the assistant commissioner and tehsildar offices, as a stopgap arrangement.

The district government has however sought allocation of Rs324 million for the construction of a tehsil complex, land record centre and at least 62 residences for government officials.

Jalalpur Jattan city had already been granted the status of municipal committee by the Punjab government, as earlier in 2001 it was divided into four union councils being the second major urban centre of the district. Premier educational institutions such as the University of Gujrat and Nawaz Sharif Medical College were located only 5km from the city. The distance of these institutions from Gujrat city was around 12km.

A senior official in the district government said the decision to grant tehsil status to the town would result in economic uplift of the area. A bridge over the Chenab river at Shahbazpur had been approved to link Gujrat with the Sialkot airport, while the Sialkot-Lahore motorway was only 4km from this town.

He said besides approval of the bridge construction work on the historical Defence Road from Kharian cantonment to the Shahbazpur bridge at Rs350 million was already underway.

Local analysts said the PML-N leadership had approved the tehsil status to appease the Nawabzada family — arch rivals of the Chaudhrys of PML-Q.

Published in Dawn October 4th, 2016