Page 219 - Muzaffargarh Gazzetteer

FORT MUNRO RESTHOUSE
The inhabitants of Muzaffargarh hardly have any excursion or recreational
facility. However, to their good fortune, not only Fort Munro, a hill station, is
situated at a close distance but also a big rest house owned by the District
Council Muzaffargarh is situated there. Unfortunately, the rest house had
fallen into disrepair, and lacked in appropriate furniture and other necessary
facilities. Worse still, there was no mechanism in place for the inhabitants of
Muzaffargarh to get the rooms booked in the rest house.

A project of repair and rehabilitation of the rest house was therefore
embarked upon, as a part of which the replacement of furniture was also
initiated in phases. In addition, the mess and kitchen were to be repaired as
well to make quality in-house dining facilities available to the visitors, on
affordable rates. And above all, the arrangements were put into place
whereby any residents of Muzaffargarh could get the room booked in the rest
house through the Deputy Commissioner office, on first come first serve
basis.

ESTABLISHMENT OF OIL CITY AT MEHMOODKOT
As stated in the earlier pages, Muzaffargarh houses the Mid Country Refinery
of PARCO at Mehmoodkot, which is the biggest oil refinery of Pakistan. The
Refinery caters for around half of the fuel needs of the country. The armed
forces of Pakistan, in particular, depend heavily on the Refinery for their
needs. It is therefore not an exaggeration to term the Refinery a life line for
the entire country.
The presence of the Refinery in Mehmoodkot has in turn attracted many Oil
Marketing Companies (OMCs), which have established their storage depots
in and around the area. As regards the vehicular traffic, 350-400 tankers
arrive here every day and up to 2000 tankers are present in Mehmoodkot on
an average on any given time. However, all of this is taking place without any
proper planning. As a result, the growth at the site has largely been
haphazard, unplanned and unregulated. In addition to other civic problems,
there is huge potential of occurrence of any untoward incident too. In the
absence of proper safety and relief/rescue arrangements, such an incident
may engulf the entire area which, in all eventuality, would become no less
than a national disaster. Entire situation therefore warrants proper town
planning of the area keeping in view the existing facilities as well as the future
needs. Such a planning shall also entail comprehensive arrangements for
dealing with untoward incidents/emergency situations, which are non-
existent at the moment. No wonder, one day, with proper planning in place,
Mehmoodkot might formally become the first Oil City of Pakistan.

Unfortunately, the District Administration neither has any expertise nor
resources, human as well as material, to undertake the aforementioned
planning which is undoubtedly a technical matter, and has to be carried out

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