Govt to bifurcate South Punjab secretariat.

MULTAN -- The provincial government has decided to divide the South Punjab Civil Secretariat into two parts, based in Multan and Bahawalpur. The decision is reportedly aimed to ease tensions among politicians in the region.

However, the already deprived people of south Punjab will once again have to travel from one city to another for small tasks.

It was also decided to depute an additional chief secretary in Multan and an additional IG in Bahawalpur. Funds of Rs3 billion were available for the South Punjab Civil Secretariat. The secretariat will reportedly become operational in the first week of July.

Parliamentary Secretary for Information Nadeem Qureshi, while speaking to The Express Tribune, said that citizens were expressing displeasure with the government's decision of division of the civil secretariat in two parts. The government decided to divide the civil secretariat to prevent the ongoing tensions among the politicians of South Punjab from escalating. On the establishment of the civil secretariat, an additional IG will sit in Bahawalpur and an additional chief secretary in Multan.

The parliamentary secretary remarked that the establishment of civil secretariat was a victory for the people of South Punjab. 'We will soon make South Punjab a separate province.' The government decided earlier to set...