LAHORE: Punjab Governor House opened for public on Sunday as MPAs and provincial ministers welcomed the public on their first visit to the house.
A large crowd gathered outside the building before the scheduled time of 10am.
The people were allowed to enter the building from the gate near Al-Hamra Hall on Mall Road, after showing the identity card of the head of their family.
Punjab government ministers Fayyaz-ul-Hassan Chohan and Mian Aslam Iqbal welcomed the families while other Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) MNAs and MPAs were also present.
Crowds beyond expectation… Governor House Lahore! pic.twitter.com/K42qKqd5Px
— Mohammad Sarwar (@ChMSarwar) September 16, 2018
The building was opened following an announcement by Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar regarding the opening of building every Sunday.
As per the announcement, families will be able to visit the Governor House between 10am and 6pm every Sunday.
In a message on Twitter, Governor Sarwar said, “Today, we welcomed the public to a soft launch of the Governor House in Lahore. We had an overwhelming response since 9am. It’s the first time in history where a Governor of Punjab has opened the doors of the Governor House for the public!”
Today we welcomed the public to a soft launch of the Governor house in Lahore. We had an overwhelming response since 9am. It’s the first time in history where a Governor of Punjab has opened the doors of the Governor House for the public! pic.twitter.com/Yk9B3xUOBx
— Mohammad Sarwar (@ChMSarwar) September 16, 2018
People took selfies and made pictures in different locations within the house, including the zoo, lake, Dewan-e-Khaas and Baradari.
Provincial ministers said, while talking to media persons, said that PTI’s decision to open the Governor House was a manifestation of aspirations of the people. “Imran Khan is fulfilling all promises made with people. Governor House Lahore will be converted into museum and budget will be spent on education and health,” they announced.
On September 10, Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar announced that the Punjab Governor’s House has opened its doors to the masses.
Talking to journalists, the Punjab governor said, “State-owned buildings are the country’s assets.”
Following the win in the recent general election, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf said, “It would take austerity measures to curb excessive expenditures and promised to end the VVIP culture of government functionaries.”
The party’s nominated governors in Sindh and Punjab, Imran Ismail and Chaudhry Sarwar, had also promised to use the minimum resources for themselves from the government expenditure. Meanwhile, the Sindh Governor House was also opened for public.
On September 13, addressing a press conference, Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood said that Prime Minister House will be turned into a state-of-the-art postgraduate university and the governor houses into museums while the decision regarding the fate of President House would be taken in the next phase.
He said that the PM House is located on 1096 kanals of land and Rs470 million was its annual maintenance cost. He also said that construction work would be carried out on the unused areas of the establishment.
