Punjab Acting Governor Rana Muhammad Iqbal has issued three important notifications that seek to curtail the establishment under him soon after taking charge from his predecessor, Makhdoom Ahmad Mahmood, sources have told Pakistan Today.
It is learnt that in an important notification, the governor returned the Governor’s House in Bhurban to the Forest Department. It was used as the guesthouse by the Forest Department prior to the military coup staged by former president Pervez Musharraf. Later, then governor Khalid Maqbool converted the guesthouse into the Governor’s House after the Governor’s House in Murree was taken over by president Musharraf. It was since then managed by the federal government.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has already taken control of the Governor’s House in Murree and now the acting governor has returned the Governor’s House in Bhurban to its parent department in a major move.
In another order, the governor gave up his suite in the Punjab House. The sources said the governor would now just have a single room in the Punjab House to himself instead of an entire luxurious suite.
Similarly, in a third notification, the governor made a drastic cut in his staff across the province.
Iqbal took over as acting governor early this week after the federal government accepted Mahmood’s resignation.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is taking time to appoint a new governor. Interestingly, the acting governor has taken some key decisions before the appointment of a regular governor by the federal government.