BAHAWALPUR: As many as 21,000 people hailing from Cholistan have submitted applications with the Cholistan Development Authority (CDA) for the allotment of land under the Punjab chief minister’s package.

The data was shared by CDA Managing Director Rana Muhammad Aslam here on Wednesday with Dawn.

He said seven counters for the collection of applications for land allotment had been set up in the CDA office for convenience of the applicants. These counters were for the residents of the seven union councils (UCs) of Cholistan of which four fell in Bahawalpur district, while Rahim Yar Khan and Bahawalnagar have two and one UCs, respectively.

He said that after the collection of applications till the office hours, the applicants data was computerised the same day to avoid any mistake ir misplacement.

The MD said the process to receive fresh applications was started last month and would continue till Dec 26.

He said seven “scrutiny committees” had also been formed headed by respective assistant commissioners and comprising the officials of the departments of forest, irrigation and revenue.

He said the CDA had also approached the Punjab Board of Revenue (BoR) to have the services of an official of National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), for computerised registration of all the applications to avoid any overlapping or other mistake and ensure transparency in the process of balloting at later stage.

The allotment of land under CM package was initiated back in 2014 during the PML-N government when over 50,000 applications were received. Of these, some 15,000 applicants were declared eligible for the land allotment after secruitny.

But, later on the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government declared the process null and void and sought fresh applications for the purpose.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2019