An unsettled secretariat  

The new complex will continue to face problems related to autonomy

LAHORE: By August 2023, the South Punjab Secretariat in Multan will be housed in the specially constructed structure, assuming all goes according to plan, which is least probable. However, the new complex would continue to face problems related to autonomy.

Imran Khan, who was prime minister at the time, set the cornerstone for the South Punjab Secretariat in Multan on a bright afternoon on April 26, 2021. The elected representatives from the region who were members of the then-governing PTI responded cautiously to the plan for the apparent reason that the Seraiki people had elected the PTI to power, not for this secretariat, but for a separate province. With no absolute majority in either the Punjab Assembly or the Parliament, the PTI, however, attempted to appease the people of south Punjab by establishing a secretariat and describing it as an important step toward the construction of a Seraiki wasaib province.

The elected representatives from south Punjab were all in agreement that a distinct province should be created, but they disagreed over where the secretariat should be located. As powerful lobbies put pressure on the government, the ruling coalition in the centre and in Lahore selected a middle road, naming Multan and Bahawalpur as future administrative capitals. Multan was to house the majority of the offices. Since April 26, 2021, the construction has not progressed at the rate promised by the government.

Since the government has not allocated land for the Bahawalpur administrative complex, construction has yet to begin. The state administration has chosen the arid zone research centre of the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) as the site for the Bahawalpur secretariat. The issue is that the land is owned by the federal government. In this sense, both the federal and provincial governments have been in talks to resolve the disagreement over the construction of the secretariat on the 160 acres where the PARC’s dry zone research station is located. Officials from the PARC have requested that the government locate the arid zone research centre at the proposed Bahawalpur south Punjab secretariat site.

According to retired Capt Saqib Zaffar, additional chief secretary (ACS) of South Punjab, the matter would be resolved because the Punjab government is willing to accommodate the arid zone centre in the Bahawalpur complex.

So far, his priority has been to complete the Multan complex as soon as possible. He stated that he had begun close observation of the ongoing development project of the South Punjab civil secretariat building in order to assure timely completion and that he had ordered authorities to speed up work.

“If the government has set an August 2023 date for project completion, the timeframe will be met because the government is committed to inaugurating the building in August 2023,” he stated.

By December 15, the ground floor of the secretariat building had been completed, and work on the first and second floors was progressing quickly. Six houses are also being built on the property.

Multan’s South Punjab Secretariat is being built on 504 kanals, and the project is expected to cost more than Rs 3.5 billion.

The Punjab government has committed an additional Rs1 billion for the building and expansion of Mattital Road in order to provide convenient access to the offices.

According to South Punjab ACS Saqib Zafar, the 21-kilometre-long Mattital Road will be built as a two-way highway, with a total cost of Rs2.5 billion.

Opponents, on the other hand, label the endeavour a waste of money. Punjab Governor Muhammad Balighur Rehman described the South Punjab Secretariat as a “lollypop” to the people of this poor region. He claims that the secretariat will not resolve regional issues.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, which wants Bahawalpur province and South Punjab province including Dera Ghazi Khan and Multan divisions, is a factor to consider in creating the new province.

The Pakistan Peoples Party and Seraiki nationalists, on the other hand, support the PTI’s proposal for a south Punjab province comprised of Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, and Bahawalpur divisions.

Aside from political divisions, the bureaucracy has its own set of problems. According to several other secretaries, the South Punjab secretariat lacks both financial and administrative autonomy.

They claimed that the Multan and Bahawalpur offices were simply posted offices for the Lahore headquarters.

“The main decisions are made at the Lahore office, and we are here in Multan to implement them,” said an additional secretary.

The region may eventually claim autonomy and perhaps provincial status, but for the time being, all eyes are on August 2023, the project’s set date.

Imran Khan lay the foundation stone but nobody knows who will open the finished project in August 2023.