Layyah, Bhakkar and Mianwali will be part of a new administrative division

Lahore: The Punjab government has decided to establish a new administrative division in the province which will comprise of the districts of Layyah, Bhakkar, and Mianwali. A consultative parley was held in this regard under the special directions of Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif at Civil Secretariat Lahore today in which selection of divisional headquarter for the proposed new division was discussed in detail.

Provincial Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan presided over the parley which was participated by Members of National Assembly Ubaid Ullah Shadikhel, Dr. Afzal Dhandla, Members of Punjab Assembly Maher Ijaz Ahmed Achlana, Aamir Inayat Khan Shahani, Ghazanfar Abbas, Amanat Ullah Khan, Ch. Ishfaq Ahmed and Qaiser Abbas Magsi. Senior Member Board of Revenue Punjab Nadeem Ashraf, Commissioner Sargodha Division Muhammad Iqbal Chauhan, DCO Mianwali Mian Abrar Ahmed, DCO Bhakkar Mumtaz Hussain Zahid, DCO Layyah Nadeem ur Rehman, Secretary Revenue Punjab Rai Javed, Additional Secretary S&GAD Malik Mukhtar Ahmed Noul and Additional Secretary Local Govt. Moazzam Ali Janjua were also present.

Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan while giving remarks on the principled decision of Chief Minister Punjab to establish a new division comprising three most backward districts of the province, termed it a right decision and said that apparently Bhakkar would be the most suitable city to become the divisional headquarter. It would serve the public convenience as this city is located in centre of the proposed new administrative division and the Mianwali-Muzaffargarh Road (MM Road) is available to link the people of all the three districts. He said the option for Mianwali and Layyah was also there and the elected representatives from the both districts have their reservations which would be catered to reach a consensus. The proposal to upgrade the district Layyah into a division having a new district of Kot Addu after upgrading this tehsil was also thrashed out during the parley.

Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan directed the Senior Member Board of Revenue to prepare a working paper for the next parley to be held on December 20 this year in which a unanimous decision in this regard will be the main item of the agenda, the recommendations will be sent to the Punjab Chief Minister afterwards for the final approval.