BAHAWALPUR, July 8 The district council on Wednesday unanimously demanded status of province for Bahawalpur at an emergent meeting held here on Wednesday at Rashadia Hall.

 
The resolution to the effect was moved by district nazim Tariq Cheema amid slogans favouring separate provincial status for Bahawalpur in the meeting chaired by convener Liaquat Lodhi.

The resolution said before the creation of One-Unit, Bahawalpur was declared a full-fledged province in 1953.
The defunct Bahawalpur State was merged in the One-Unit by the then Nawab Muhammad Sadiq Khan Abbasi V on the condition that later its status of a province would be restored.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Cheema, whose father Bashir Ahmed Cheema was the speaker of the first and last Bahawalpur assembly, said an organised movement should be launched to secure the genuine rights of the people of the area.

He added “We have no objection to (demand for) south Punjab province, but if Bahawalpur is made its part, we will vehemently oppose and resist this decision.”

Speakers including Nasear Nasir, Malik Mehboob Ahmed, Mazhar Shah, Dilshad Qureshi, Zulfiqar Shah and others said Bahawalpur had been kept backward deliberately.

They said because of lack of industry, the area had witnessed massive joblessness and the local youth had to seek employment in other big cities. During the speeches, the council members raised full-throated slogans supporting the demand.

Before creation of One-Unit, the then central government declared Bahawalpur a province in 1953. The first Bahawalpur assembly had about 49 seats. Late Syed Hasan Mahmood was elected in 1954 the first chief minister of Bahawalpur province, while late Chaudhry Frazand Ali was the speaker and late Chaudhry Bashir Ahmad was deputy speaker.

With the creation of One-Unit, the assembly was dissolved.

BUDGET Earlier, during the general meeting, the district council approved a tax-free budget of Rs5066.963 million for the year 2009-10. It included a sum of Rs3161.334 million of the interim award received from the Punjab government.

There will be no provision for any development work during the year in the district and no new uplift scheme has been mentioned in the budget speech. But, it is said there would be a provision of Rs1367.893 million for development expenditures against the head of 'unproductive expenditure' of Rs3608.349.