- Punjab CM says those criticising public welfare projects unduly enemies of the common man
Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said the pivot of the politics of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is the welfare of the common man and the promise of a peaceful, economically stable and safer Pakistan the ruling party made will be fulfilled.
Talking to a delegation of the PML-N here, the chief minister said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the journey of peace was continuing with determination and the country was treading on the road to progress and prosperity.
“Today Pakistan is stronger economically as compared to 2013,” he observed, adding that the PML-N government was taking the programme of the country’s development forward as a mission and had launched programmes of billions of rupees for public welfare.
Sharif observed that the politics of compromising national interests over personal interests had caused a huge loss to the country, and said that those criticising public welfare projects unduly were the enemies of prosperity of the common man. The PML-N had always upheld decent political values, he added.
Sharif said that majority of the country’s population belonged to rural areas, adding that the PML-N government considered progress and prosperity of the rural populace its mission. He recalled that a big programme “Pakiyan Sarkan—Saukhay Panday” had been started for prosperity of the rural people which was a milestone in strengthening rural economy.
The CM said that such a big project of construction and rehabilitation of roads had never been started and this project of 150 billion rupees would change the destiny of rural people. He told the delegates that construction and rehabilitation work on thousands of kilometres of roads at a cost of billions of rupees had been completed, and said “looking after and protection of these roads is our national obligation which will be ensured at all costs”.
Sharif said that under the “Pakiyan Sarkan—Saukhay Panday” programme, high quality carpeted roads were being constructed and a network of hundreds of kilometers of roads would be laid by 2018. He further said that this programme would bring the message of prosperity for strengthening rural economy and the distance between villages and cities would be reduced.
Referring to the steps taken for the uplift of the agri sector and prosperity of farmers, the chief minister said that prosperity of farmers was priority of the PML-N government. He said that a historic package of Rs 100 billion would be completed during the next two years in this respect.
He said that all-out steps would be taken for providing relief to the farming community and every measure would be made for saving them from international recession. Sharif however made it clear that no compromise would be made on protection of the rights of small farmers.
He said that the basic aim of the agri package was to increase per acre production and reduce the difficulties facing small cultivators.
