LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar Thursday announced three new districts and two tehsils, saying that he himself had principally approved the new administrative units in the province. The chief minister revealed the development during an informal conversation with the journalists.
He disclosed that an in-principle decision had been reached to split Lahore into two districts. “Similarly, hill station Murree and tehsil Taunsa Sharif will be given the status of districts,” he said, adding that two new tehsils would also be carved out of Rawalpindi. It merits mention here that according to the last census results, Taunsa tehsil, the hometown of the chief minister, has a population of 675,755 people, less than half the population of adjoining tehsils of Kot Addu and comes at number 23 among other tehsils with regard to population.
Likewise, Murree with a population of only 233,471 people comes at number 78 on the population list of different tehsils. Justifying the creation of new districts, the chief minister said that the new districts would be established for improving governance. He said that the government was working on it for a long period of time. The chief minister said that a committee constituted for the purpose had put forth its recommendations and approval had also been granted to reserve a 20 per cent quota for girls from backward areas in nursing colleges to improve their employment opportunities. He also announced increasing the annual LPC grant to Rs20million.
