Gujar khan - The residents of Gujar Khan tehsil urged upon Chief Minister Punjab, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, to grant tehsil status to Daultala Town and also create a new police station for better administrative control and to facilitate the population of the area.
The residents have pointed out that Gujar Khan tehsil, consisting of 36 union councils plus Gujar Khan urban areas, was spread over 60 miles in length from Notla village at the bank of Mangla dam to the Trakwal village near Chakwal while its population was exceeding 0.8 million.
They said that the district status for Gujar Khan was proposed during 2004 by then Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi while tehsil status for Daultala has repeatedly been reverberated by many political leaders during the election days.
Chaudhry Muhammad Ashraf, retired Chief Secretary (AJ&K), while talking to The Nation, said that the recent proposal and expression of desire by the chief minister of Punjab to grant tehsil status to Daultala Town was a source of solace for the residents of the area. The retired officer, who also hails from Daultala area, has said that this town and surrounding areas have been prominent since pre-partition days, and Nawaz Sharif, as the chief minister of Punjab, had visited and established colleges for boys and girls in Daultala, and now this city has become the hub of commercial, educational, and social activities with a large bulk of overseas Pakistanis earning foreign exchange. Mr. Chaudhry added that the Ahdi oil fields of PPL are also counted among the largest natural resources, and agricultural value of this region was also acknowledged in the Rawalpindi Gazetteer compiled in the British era. He also recollected that this area was prominent in military valor, and a resident of the area, Shahmat Khan, had earned the prestigious Victoria Cross in WW-I, while another Sawar Muhmmad Hussain Shaheed, also earned the Nishan-e-Haider, while the first Nishan-e-Haider of the Pakistan Army was also earned by Captain Sarwar Shaheed of Gujar Khan Tehsil.
The retired officer enumerated that the services of residents in the military were also a source of pride for the nation. He said that granting tehsil status to Daultala was the need of the hour.
Chaudhry Muhammad Abid, an advocate and an office bearer of Jamaat-i-Islami, while demanding tehsil status for Daultala, pointed out to The Nation that 20 years ago the population of Rawalpindi district was much lesser than that of Gujar Khan now. He said that recently Tala Gang and Murree have been accorded district status, having lesser populations as compared to Gujar Khan tehsil. He further said that Kahuta, Taxilla, Kallar Syedan, Lawa and Dina in the same administrative division of Rawalpindi, were consisting of much lesser number of union councils and population, while Gujar Khan, having 36 union councils with much higher population figures, can be divided into three tehsils: Bewal, Gujar Khan, and Daultala.
Mr. Abid said that as per the criterion of the administrative facilitation, Gujar Khan deserves district status with three tehsils by dividing 36 union councils. Mr. Abid, while advocating his viewpoint, said that Nankana Sahib was accorded district status on the basis of influence in the government, while Gujar Khan qualified on the merits of administration and public facility.
Syed Nadeem Bokhari, a diehard worker of PML-N, who has always been the protagonist and campaigner for the district status to Gujar Khan, while talking to The Nation, said that he went from town to town and village to village while driving a public signatures drive for this cause decades ago, but his appeals remained unheeded during the Musharraf era. Mr. Bokhari hoped that the PML-N government and its chief minister, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, were delivering services to the public on merits, and he hoped that the CM would announce tehsil status to Daultala and Bewal by elevating Gujar Khan to district status. Mr. Bokhari also suggested that Sohawa thehsil can also be linked with Gujar Khan district, as Gujar Khan was quite approachable for the residents instead of Jhelum.
These notables also pointed out that an additional police station as Gujar Khan Saddar, was also approved decades ago for better crime control and the residents had also allocated a piece of land in the eastern areas of Gujar Khan police station but the authorities have failed to materialize this project.
The offices of the district and tehsil administration, when contacted, confirmed that in response to letter No. 2940-2022/ 1820-DIR (DEV&G) dated 25-3-2023 received from the Board of Revenue Punjab on the subject of “Creation of New Tehsil Daultala,” a feasibility report was forwarded to the higher authorities. The far-flung union councils from Gujar Khan city, i.e., Syed Kasraan, Raman, Devi, Narrali, Jatli, Jhunghal, Daultala, Mohra Noori, Kontrila and Manghote and revenue estates of some other UCs were proposed as constituents of the new tehsil, covering the land area of 178,112 acres, was forwarded. The forwarded report also cleared Daultala tehsil as feasible and in the public interest. However, the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Revenue (ADC-R), Mr. Nabeel Riaz, when contacted for his comments on the creation of Daultala tehsil, said that no final decision has yet been taken by the competent quarters.
On the other hand, sources in the police department confirmed that the establishment of a new police station was already proposed and approved, and the land was also allocated, but it was shelved for unknown reasons. An officer requesting anonymity commented that police station Jatli was sprawling over a 50 km long span, and Gujar Khan police station was also covering areas spread over 40 km, and the manifold increase in population and crime rate has rendered effective policing difficult.
The residents of Gujar Khan have urged upon the chief minister of Punjab, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, to take an impartial view on the administrative division of Gujar Khan tehsil into 2 more sub-divisions, Daultala and Bewal, and accordingly fulfill the promises of district status to Gujar Khan.
