GUJRAT: The Punjab Land Record Authority (PLRA) has decided to launch express services at 149 computerised land record centres (CLRCs) from this month and Rs1,500 to 5,000 will be charged for such services, says a notification by PLRA Director General Zafar Iqbal.

The PLRA board, under section 18 of the PLRA Act of 2017, approved the measure and charges. Up to Rs1,500 will be charged for issuing a ‘fard’ (property ownership document) and Rs5,000 for attestation of mutation (transfer of ownership of property).

These charges will be applicable on the services from express counters and no additional charges will be obtained against NADRA verification, however, the existing fee (Rs150) for ‘fard’, Rs200 for mutation and Bank of Punjab collection charges will be in addition to the service charges.

A CLRC official told Dawn that the specific date of the launch of the services had yet to be issued.

He said the standard operation procedures had also not been conveyed to CLRCs, those wanted to using express services, would need to appointment online and a service center official would be dedicated for such visitors.

He said that the express service would cater to those who sought urgent service at CLRCs to avoid long rush, however, ‘fard’ booths in small towns and union council levels would be set up to lessen work pressure at CLRCs.

Also, a spokesperson for the PLRA said that the authority had deployed 168 service centre officials, of the recently recruited 225, at CLRCs to cope with the shortage of staff.

“... the remaining 57 officials would be sent to field by the end of March, after completion of their training” said the PLRA announcement adding that more staff would also be hired soon to further cope with ever increasing load at CLRCs.

Offices for MPs: The parliamentarians should be given offices and staff in their respective constituencies so that public could get rid of visiting their outhouses and residences, besides research officer for better legislation.

State minister for ports and shipping Chaudhry Jaafar Iqbal Fatta Bhand told Dawn that he had submitted these proposals to the PML-N’s senior leadership so that lawmakers could perform their role effectively.

He said the Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services (PIPS) should also be utilised for better parliamentary work and training of legislators.

He said that some of the parliamentarians had employed research officers for their parliamentary work at their personal expense.

He said lawmakers’ salaries should also be rationalised so that they could do their work in a better way.

The minister added that he had also suggested to the Punjab government to depute engineers at union council level to guide the people on construction of houses as per the by-laws, solid waste management and management of clean drinking water and sewage.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2018