- Shehbaz says govt ensures transparent use of resources
LAHORE: A high-level meeting, under the chairmanship of Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, on Friday examined steps taken for overall development of the province including provision of better services and promotion of good governance at the grassroots level.
Addressing the meeting, the chief minister said that far-reaching reforms have been introduced in public sector departments by dexterous use of information and communication technologies. Due to it, service delivery mechanism as well as efficiency and efficacy of public sector departments have been improved, he said.
On the other hand, composite development of remote and far-flung areas has been given due importance and mega projects of billions of rupees have been completed. He said that the mission of providing better services to the people has been accelerated with commitment and dedication. “Merit has been promoted in every sector and recruitments have been made purely on merit and competence,” he said.
The chief minister said that correct and transparent use of resources has been ensured as well and different schemes have been completed which have provided direct benefit to the masses. “Our efforts for overcoming the energy crisis have bear fruit and load-shedding has been eliminated due to the completion of energy projects,” he said, adding that the economy has been directly benefitted from overcoming of the energy crisis.
On the other side, the Punjab government has set a high example of saving of billions of rupees in energy projects and this money has been spent on the programmes of providing relief to the people. He said that stopping the efforts of dacoity of billions of rupees on natural resources of Chiniot-Rajwa was their achievement and billions of rupees have been saved in this project after a struggle spanning over four years.
Chief Minister Shehbaz said that the people have been given prompt relief due to efforts taken for bringing improvement in social sector. He said that thousands of children of brick-kiln workers have been given an opportunity to study free of cost and more than two lakh and 75 thousand children of low-income families have been accorded an opportunity to study under the Punjab Educational Endowment Fund.
He also said that the missing facilities have been provided in 44 thousand schools and new hospitals have been established to provide latest healthcare facilities to the patients. It is for the first time that high-quality medicines are being given free of cost to the needy patients and samples of medicines sent to the international laboratories have been proved hundred percent correct.
The chief minister said that villages have been made neat and clean under the Khadim-e-Punjab Saaf Deehat Programme and thousands of kilometres long farm-to-market roads have been constructed by spending a colossal sum of Rs 85 billion under the Khadim-e-Punjab Rural Roads Programme. A network of developed roads, bridges, underpasses and flyovers has been spread in the province as latest infrastructure plays an important role in boasting trade activities.
On theocassion, the P&D chairman gave a detailed briefing about the programmes of the public welfare. Ministers Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan, Malik Nadeem Kamran, Punjab government spokesman Malik Ahmed Khan, chief secretary and secretaries of the departments concerned also attended the meeting.