The special committee on setting up a new division to remove backwardness of Thal area of Punjab has short listed two proposals in this regard after consultative meetings with the Members of National and Provincial Assemblies of the concerned districts.
The Committee on Monday met with Minister for Education Rana Mashoood Ahmad Khan in the chair and participated by Members of the Parliament and DCOs of Sargodha, Jhang, Bhakkar, Mianwali, Muzaffargarh, Mandi Bahauddin and Layyah, could not reach consensus on making another two divisions in the Thal area of the province.
In this view of the fact, two proposals were short-listed which would be presented to the Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif for his consideration and approval. The meeting with the consultation of elected representatives declared the proposal more practicable that district Layyah be given the status of new divisional headquarters while besides Bhakkar and Layyah districts, tehsil Kot Addu of district Muzaffargarh be also given the status of a district and included in the new division. Similarly, village Rangpur Janoobi of district Muzaffargarh will also be a part of the new division.
According to the second proposal, Bhakkar city can be made the new divisional headquarter by including Bhakkar, Layyah, Kot Addu, a part of Noorpur Thal and some area of tehsil Athara Hazari in the new division. The elected representatives of Tehsil Kot Addu opposed the proposal of granting status of divisional headquarter to Bhakkar for the reason that Bhakkar is 200 kilometer away from Kot Addu. Similarly, the elected representatives of district Jhang unanimously emphasised the view that if tehsil Athara Hazari was included in the new division, the direct link of tehsil Ahmedpur Sial will be disconnected with Jhang. Elected representatives of district Mianwali adopted the stance that they will prefer to remain a part of Sargodha division. The meeting also considered the proposal of granting status of division to district Jhang and including district Mandi Bahauddin in Sargodha division instead of Gujranwala division. But due to the fact concerned elected representatives could not reach a consensus, it was decided to send the proposals to the Chief Minister Punjab.
Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan told meeting that Bhakkar, Layyah and other areas of Thal desert are considered backward areas of Punjab due to their location and the pace of development process.
He said that Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif wants to facilitate the people by establishing a new division comprising the districts situated in Thal so that not only people of the area should have easy access to new divisional headquarters but the development process of the area could also be accelerated.
Members National Assembly Obaid Ullah Shadikhel, Dr. Muhammad Afzal Dhandla, Najaf Abbas Siyal, Syed Saqlain Shah Bukhari, Members Provincial Assembly Malik Ahmed Yar Hanjra, Malik Ghulam Murtaza Rahim Khar, Hammad Nawaz Khan, Ch. Ashfaq Ahmed, Alamdar Hussain, Khurram Siyal, Shafqat Gondal, Syed Tariq Yaqoob Shah, Malik Ghazanfar Abbas Cheena, Amir Anayat Khan Shahani, Amanat Ullah Khan Shadikhel, Mehr Ijaz Ahmed Achlana, Sh. Muhammad Akram, Mohtarma Rashida Yaqoob Sheikh, Ameer Muhammad Khan, Muhammad Saqlain Bukhari, Qaiser Magsi, Mohtarma Tahia Noon and former Member Provincial Assembly Ali Noor Haider Khan Niazi besides Senior Member Board of Revenue Punjab, Commissioner Sargodha Division, Secretary Regulation, Additional Secretary Local Govt. and DCOs of the concerned districts were present in the meeting.
