BAHAWALPUR: The divisional administration has finalised an ambitious plan to widen the existing Circular Road and install a new underground sewerage system along it. Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has sanctioned Rs325 million for the project.

Divisional Commissioner Bahawalpur Irfan Ali Kathia disclosed this while talking to Dawn here on Sunday.

According to the commissioner, the plan envisages widening the left side of the two-way Circular Road from Farid Gate to Fowara Chowk to ease the increasing flow of vehicular traffic.

A new underground sewerage system will also be laid on the right side of the road along the medicines market in front of Bahawal Victoria Hospital (BVH), where complaints of sewage overflow, particularly during rainy weather, have been received.

Mr Kathia said it had been decided to acquire a 10-foot wide strip of land from each government institution located along the left side of the road between Farid Gate and Fowara Chowk to facilitate the widening project.

He said the new underground sewerage system would also benefit BVH and Quaid-i-Azam Medical College (QAMC), which have several decades-old sewerage systems that have remained a constant source of nuisance for the administration and local residents.

With the widening of the left side of the road, the existing right-side carriageway, central divider and other infrastructure, including electric poles, would also be shifted and redesigned in accordance with the new plan.

The commissioner said decorative streetlights would be installed along the Circular Road to give it a new look.

He said the project would help ease traffic pressure on the city’s two busy roads and their link roads, besides improving the city’s appearance and environment and ensuring better cleanliness in line with the chief minister’s vision.It merits mentioning that the Government Sadiq Dane (SD) High School, Sanat Zaar, BVH and QAMC, besides some private buildings, are located along the left side of the road, from which land is proposed to be acquired for the project.

CAMPAIGN FOR PROVINCE: The Bahawalpur province movement leaders have vowed to launch a vigorous campaign, to be spearheaded by Prince Bahawal Khan Abbasi.

At a joint press conference following a women’s rally demanding the restoration of Bahawalpur province, south Punjab Emir of Jamaat-i-Islami and patron of the Bahawalpur Suba Movement, Syed Zeeshan Akhtar, Prince Bahawal Khan Abbasi, central chairman of Tehreek-i-Suba and Kissan Board for Pakistan, Jam Hazoor Bakhsh, JI Bahawalpur district general secretary Nasrullah Khan, movement leader Akram Ansari and others declared that the demand for restoration of Bahawalpur province was not merely an administrative issue but was linked to the legitimate rights, long-awaited aspirations and historic separate identity of the people of the former Bahawalpur State.

They reiterated their resolve to continue the struggle until the objective was achieved and declared that the demand for a separate province was their “red line”, from which they would never retreat.

They said the PML-N-led Punjab Assembly had passed a resolution for restoration of Bahawalpur province in previous years.

Prince Abbasi regretted a statement by Prime Minister’s Adviser Rana Sanaullah Khan, who had said that the resolution had become “infructuous” with the passage of time. He said Rana Sanaullah should not have made such a statement, as the demand for a separate Bahawalpur province was 56 years old and represented the longstanding aspirations of the people.

JI Emir Syed Zeeshan Akhtar said the party had been supporting the demand for the past 56 years and would continue to patronise the movement.

Women activists Shazia Naureen, Asia Kamil and others also addressed the press conference.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2026