LAHORE, Feb 18: The Punjab Local Government and Rural Development Department will fill the vacancies of town planners in 52 towns and tehsils after lifting a ban on new recruitment.

A spokesman of the department said that the government attached full importance to town planning but engineers and other staff from the Communication and Works Department had been posted against the vacancies of town planners (planning and coordination) created under the Local Government Ordinance 2001 in view of the ban on new recruitment.

The spokesman said that the department had filled 70 vacancies of T.O (P&C) on merit and those manned by non-town planners would be filled after lifting of the recruitment ban.

The spokesman was not aware of the fact that former town planning director of the defunct Metropolitan Corporation of Lahore Waheed Ahmed Butt was working as District Officer (Town Planning), Lahore. He said that the post of town planner did not exist at district level.