GUJRANWALA: A recent initiative of the local government department to computerise the union councils record in the city could be frustrated as record of all 73 urban UCs has been partially damaged because of the metropolitan corporation employees’ negligence.

According to sources, the provincial local government department has ordered computerisation of the manual record of all the 73 urban UCs in the city.

Gujranwala Metropolitan Corporation (MC) is custodian of all the urban UCs’ record, including birth, death and marriage data of the people residing in its limits.

The sources said that after the last local bodies ceased to function as per the government’s orders, the UC secretaries’ offices, along with the record, were shifted to the MC head office.

They said because of lack of arrangements to keep the record books safely at the MC head office, and negligence of the officials concerned vital record of the UCs was damaged.

They said in the absence of the proper UCs record, the local government department’s computerisation bid could end in smoke, like a previous such attempt by the provincial government.

The citizens involved in litigation, property transfer or desiring to go abroad were facing problems due to the absence of the UCs’ record. They have demanded the government should take steps for preservation of the manual UCs record to save them from trouble.

SHOT DEAD: Unidentified attackers shot a man dead at Nathoosaya village on Tuesday. According to police, Muhammad Malik was asleep at his outhouse on Monday night, when unidentified assailants opened fire on him. Malik died on the spot.

By the time some of the locals arrived there after hearing gunshots, the killers had fled the scene, the police said.

The body was shifted to Noshehra Virkan Tehsil Headquarters Hospital and a case was registered against unidentified killers.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2021