Shahbaz calls for socio-economic justice

[Naveed Yaseen]

ACs, generators for DHQ, THQ hospitals by May 15

PUNJAB Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that several committees have been formed to reform the ‘obsolete’ and ‘paralysed’ system.

The CM was addressing a briefing meeting held regarding reforms in various departments for provision of immediate and cheap justice to the people at Chief Minister’s Secretariat today. Pakistan Muslim League-N Quaid Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif especially attended the meeting.

Provincial ministers, MNAs, MPAs, heads of committees constituted for reforms in various departments, the Punjab chief secretary, the additional chief secretary, the PD chairman senior officials were present there.

“We will have to ensure provision of social and economic justice for our own existence and brighter future of the country and would have to take such steps rapidly which the nation expects from us.

We will have to evolve a course of action to cope with the challenges being faced by the country and to find out practicable solution to problems,” he said.

Short and medium term steps are being taken to provide immediate relief to the common man, he said. He said that the system of the country was paralyzed during the last six decades and now every sector was at the verge of destruction. He said although a large number of policies were formulated for the welfare of the people and development of the country during the last 62 years but these were never implemented due to which common man is searching for justice and facing serious problems.

He said that tall claims to change the Thana Culture were made in the past but practically nothing was done. “Today police stations have not only become the den of corruption but common man is afraid to go to police stations to get justice,” he said.

He said that we will have to take steps to rehabilitate the system and elected representatives and bureaucrats will have to play their role for the welfare of the people.

He said the Punjab government had increased salaries of subordinate judiciary three hundred times for provision of prompt justice to the people so that they could perform their duties free from economic problems. He said that performance of the Prosecution Department was also being improved.

He said a taskforce headed by Justice ® Khalil-ur-Rheman has made solid recommendations for judicial reforms which will help improve the performance of subordinate judiciary and ensure provision of justice to the common man. He said that setting up complaint cells in each department was being considered in the light of the recommendations of the taskforce in which hard working and enthusiastic youth will be appointed. He said effective steps were being taken to eliminate crimes such as cattle and water theft, monitoring of police, change in thana culture, computerization of revenue record and panchait system.

The CM also constituted a committee to give final shape to the recommendations of the Taskforce which will submit its report within 48 hours.

He said the Punjab government was taking revolutionary steps for the welfare of the poor people of the province and it had ensured provision of roti for Rs.2 to the poor and deserving people and a separate authority headed by MNA Muhammad Hanif Abbasi has been established in this regard.

He said that this was the first project of public service in the history of the province and the chief secretary and the government machinery had made it successful through hard work and now this welfare project will be expanded with the cooperation of mohallah tandoor committees, civil society and kind-hearted people.

He told that seven instalments of Rs 7.46 billion had been released to around 1.5 million deserving people under the food stamp scheme so far and a programme was being developed to provide technical education to children of 200,000 people. The CM said the Punjab Educational Endowment Fund set up with an amount of Rs 2 billion was another revolutionary step of the Punjab government and scholarships were being given to 5,000 brilliant students from this fund. He said that full attention was being paid on provision of healthcare to the common man and besides free dialysis in all district and tehsil headquarters hospitals, free medicines were also being provided in hospitals. Air-conditioners and generators will be provided at a cost of Rs 2.25 billion in all district and tehsil headquarters hospitals by May 15, he said.

PML-N Quaid Nawaz while praised the steps taken by the Punjab government for the welfare of the poor people said that service of masses was the manifesto of the PML-N. Commenting on country’s situation, he said that the country was passing through a critical phase and he had given a proposal to the prime minister for convening a national conference in the best interest of the country and the nation in which elimination of extremism, provision of immediate justice to the people, controlling unemployment and other issues should be discussed.

Meanwhile, Shahbaz in another meeting to review the pace of implementation of various development projects at Chief Minister’s Secretariat said that timely and quality completion of ongoing development projects should be ensured in the province so that people could benefit from their dividends as early as possible. He said the culture of execution of development projects during night on the pattern of developed countries should be promoted for the early completion of uplift schemes as well as saving the citizens from inconvenience. He said that only local material should be used in all development projects as import of material from abroad with precious foreign exchange will not be allowed. He said that the sewerage system should be an essential element of all projects of construction of roads and installation of tubewells for the supply of potable water should be completed as early as possible.

Engineer-in-Chief GHQ Lt Gen Shahid Niaz, Task Force Chairman Khawaja Ahmed Hassan, Member Provincial Assembly Hafiz Noman, Lahore Division Commissioner, Secretary Communication & Works, Directors General of LDA and PHA, MD Wasa as well as senior officers of FWO were present on the occasion.

The CM said that the Punjab government is taking effective measures for infrastructure development in the province and huge funds have been allocated for this purpose. He said that uplift schemes are being completed in far flung areas on priority basis. He said that the nation is already under heavy loans, therefore, utilization of funds for development schemes should be made judiciously and proper utilization of every penny should be ensured. He said that import of material from abroad which much needed foreign exchange will be no service to the country and only local material should be used. He said that FWO had completed development projects of high quality in the past and it should maintain the same standard in future and rather should display even better performance. He said that the pace of execution of development schemes should be further accelerated. He said that private consultant companies should also be set up for designing of development projects so as to lessen the burden of work load on NESPAK. He said that the process of installation of tube-wells should be completed on priority basis for the early supply of potable water to the citizens. He directed Commissioner Lahore Division to hold meeting on weekly basis to review the pace of execution of development projects.

Earlier, the Chief Minister was informed about the progress of construction work of different roads including Kasur Depalpur Road, Shalimar Interchange, Madr-e-Millat Road, Johar Town, Model Town, Faisal Town, Allama Iqbal Town and Data Nagar. The meeting was informed that the work on Shalimar Interchange is in progress.

In another meeting, a delegation of Members Punjab Assembly called on the Punjab Chief Minister. Development projects of the province were discussed during the meeting. Talking to MPAs, the CM said the government was spending huge funds for provision of basic amenities to people and improving their living standard and work on welfare projects was going on speedily in the province.

The delegation which called on the Chief Minister included President PML-N Cultural Wing Punjab, Farah Deba, Advisor Zakia Shahnawaz, Rahila Khadim Hussain, Saima Aziz, Nafisa Ameen, Kiran Dar, Fariha Nayyab, Media Advisor Khawaja Imran Nazir, Ramzan Siddique Bhatti and Wasim Qadir.

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