Of the 39 districts in Punjab, District Gazetteers of only 28 districts are available on the website of the Punjab Board of Revenue (BoR), and none of these pertain to the financial year 2024–25. This gap emerged from a review of official government websites conducted as part of FAFEN’s Countering Disinformation through Reliable Information campaign.
A District Gazetteer is a legally-mandated publication containing information on a district’s socio-cultural and economic activities, developmental progress, governance and other indicators, future plans and other matters of public importance. It serves as an important source of verified administrative data for researchers, policymakers, and citizens.
Read FAFEN’s analysis of federal and provincial official websites’ assessments
What does the law require?
Under Section 23(1) of the Punjab Civil Administration Act, 2017, preparation and publication of an annual District Gazetteer is a statutory responsibility of the Deputy Commissioner of each district. The law requires the Gazetteer to be prepared for each financial year and published after approval of the Commissioner.
While the Act does not specify whether publication must be in print or online form, the BoR website serves as a centralized repository cataloguing Gazetteers uploaded by districts.
What is the current status of publication?
According to information available on the BoR website:
- No district has uploaded a Gazetteer for financial year 2024–25.
- Only one district has its latest Gazetteer for 2022.
- Twenty-three districts have Gazetteers last published for 2021.
- Four districts have Gazetteers dating back to 2020.
- One district has a Gazetteer for 2019.
District Gazetteers for 11 districts are not available on the BoR website.
Moreover, the available Gazetteers do not follow a consistent format or pattern of information provision, despite the information requirements outlined in the law.
