Separate sub-secretariat to help serve south Punjab better: CM

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar said on Thursday that a separate sub-secretariat was being set up to help the government serve southern Punjab better and bring remote areas on a par with the developed ones.

Speaking to a delegation of notables from Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan and Taunsa Sharif at Circuit House Multan, the chief minister said that additional chief secretary, additional inspector general and secretaries of various departments will be posted at the secretariat while an independent public service commission was also being established for the people of southern Punjab.

“A notification has been issued in this regard,” he said.

Sharing his government’s efforts for the betterment of backward areas, Buzdar said that the Multan-Mianwali Road would soon be upgraded to a dual carriageway whereas work on a safe city project for DG Khan had been completed. “The foundation stone of a cadet college in Taunsa Sharif will also be laid during my next visit to the area.”

He said that industrial zones will also be established in DG Khan and Taunsa Sharif and project to store the gushing waters of hill-torrents in Taunsa Sharif was on cards. “The stored water will be utilised for irrigating crops,” he said, adding that 63 new projects for the provision of clean drinking water had also been launched.

“As many as 75 other inactive water supply schemes are being restored as well and a sum of Rs500 million has been allocated for a sewerage project in Taunsa Sharif,” the chief minister concluded.

Later, Buzdar also met Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and discussed progress on different programmes aimed at the wellbeing of southern Punjab.

Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said that foundation of the prosperity of the common man had been laid by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government. “In a first, work has been started for the development of different backward areas, including those of southern Punjab, and the government will honour the trust of the people at all costs,” he added.