Rawalpindi: The Punjab government has accorded the ‘Metropolitan City’ status to Rawalpindi, according to a news source. This designation further prescribes the rebranding of the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) to the ‘Rawalpindi Metropolitan Corporation’.
This announcement came after the addition of numerous union councils (UC) to Rawalpindi – increasing their total count from 46 to 70 – with 24 rural areas converted into urban territory. This means that Rawalpindi’s population has exceeded the 1.5 million mark; making it a metropolitan city as per the Local Government Act 2019.
Resultantly, the district council has been suspended, and property tax has been implemented in the 24 areas which had been converted from rural to urban. Residents of these areas will now be liable to pay taxes (effective from November 8, 2019). All of these UCs have been merged into the following tehsils: Rawalpindi, Murree, Taxila, Kahuta, Gujar Khan, Daultala, Kotli Sattian, and Kalar Syedan.
This declaration will affect the administrative undertakings of the district as well. The provincial government has appointed Commissioner Saqib Zafar as the administrator of the Rawalpindi Metropolitan Corporation and Deputy Commissioner Saifullah Dogar as the administrator of the Rawalpindi Tehsil Council.
