GUJRAT: The much-awaited tehsil status for four different towns of Punjab, including that of Jalalpur Jattan in Gujrat, has got delayed for an indefinite period due to initiation of the delimitation process of national and provincial assemblies constituencies across the country by the Election Commission of Pakistan.

The ECP has already sealed boundaries of all tehsils and districts until the completion of the delimitation process which may conclude by the end of May 2018, just ahead of the next general elections.

Sources in the Punjab Board of Revenue, which is the competent authority to issue notification of tehsil status, told Dawn that the Punjab government’s plan of awarding tehsil status to four different towns of the province, including Jalalpur Jattan in Gujrat district, Gaggoo Mandi in Vehari, Chowk Sarwar Shaheed in Muzaffargarh and Dharanwala in Bahawalnagar could face an inordinate delay.

They said the provincial government had plan to award tehsil status to these towns by the start of new year.An official of the local administration said that it could be a big blow to the efforts of the local political leadership and lawmakers of the ruling PML-N and might hurt them in the next vote.

The BoR secretary revenue, in a most-urgent letter dated 21-11-2017, had tasked the administrative secretaries of all the departments in Punjab government as well as the deputy commissioners of the respective districts to finalize the proposal and its financial implications whereas information regarding recurring expenditures was also required for infrastructure development (one time non-recurring expenditure), procurement under non-development budget (one time non-recurring expenditure), number of new posts to be created, salaries and allowances of staff (non-development recurring expenditure) and contingencies.

In response to the letter, the Gujrat district administration had already sent its proposals on the execution of the plan.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2017