Day: December 23, 2021

Lahore, December 23, 2021 (PPI-OT):Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat while talking to media in the Punjab Assembly on Wednesday said that the date of local bodies elections in Punjab had not been decided so far and the Punjab government had to take this decision in consultation with the Election Commission of Pakistan. Replying a question on Maryam Nawaz’s comments suggesting PTI leaders to wear helmets, the minister said, “We are political people and we know what to do in politics,” Raja Basharat said that there was inflation but the Punjab Government was taking steps to control it.

Later in the Punjab Assembly session answering questions related to the food department, He said that the minimum price of sugarcane in the province was determined in consultation with the Punjab Sugar Cane Control Board. He said that Rs. 1.5 per 40 kilograms of sugar cess was collected each from landlords and mill owners from sugar mills which from August 2018 to July 2021 received more than Rs 4.54 billion. The law minister said that sugar cess was spent on construction and repair of broken roads in the respective area.

“From the year 2018 till now, Rs. 1.21 billion of sugar cess has been given to the districts for development works.” He further informed the House that last year the distribution of bardana for procurement of wheat was kept open and bardana was provided to every landlord as per demand. He said that effective measures were being taken to protect the wheat lying in the warehouses. Raja Basharat said that 214 officers were working in Lahore under Punjab Food Authority and 21 government vehicles were being used in field operations.

He said that 6 lacto machines of Food Authority in Lahore checked upto 300 milk carrying vehicles in a day. “There are 33 flour chakkies registered in Lahore and the rest are unregistered. According to the policy, each registered mill is provided 300 kg of wheat daily at a rate fixed by the Punjab Cabinet while the price of flour was fixed by the Deputy Commissioner in consultation with the chakki owners,” he added.

For more information, contact:
Directorate General Public Relations,
Government of the Punjab
Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-9201390-86
Website: www.punjab.gov.pk

Lahore, December 23, 2021 (PPI-OT):Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar chaired a special committee meeting about the south Punjab secretariat in which participants were briefed about matters relating to the south Punjab secretariat. Provincial Hashim Jawan Bakht, Dr Akhtar Malik, Sardar Mohsin Leghari, Sardar Hasnain Bahadur Dreshak, Syed Hussain Jahanian Gardezi, SACM Hasaan Khawar, chief secretary, ACS and secretaries of relevant departments were present.

The CM said the foundation stone of the south Punjab secretariat would be laid soon in Bahawalpur as the PTI-led government was fulfilling its promises made with the people. Work on development schemes was in progress speedily in south Punjab while ring fencing of the budget has yielded positive results, he stated.

The development schemes would be completed speedily while ensuring transparency as I am personally monitoring the progress; he added and asked south Punjab secretariat staff to burn the midnight oil to serve the masses. The establishment of an autonomous secretariat would result in solving south Punjab’s problems while efforts were underway to ensure implementation on quota for south Punjab youth, the CM concluded.

For more information, contact:
Directorate General Public Relations,
Government of the Punjab
Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-9201390-86
Website: www.punjab.gov.pk

Lahore, December 23, 2021 (PPI-OT):A meeting of the review committee chaired by Secretary Special Education Department Saima Saeed was held at her office here today. The meeting was attended, among others, by Director-General Special Education Pervez Iqbal Butt and divisional officers. Secretary Special Education Saima Saeed directed the divisional officers to further improve the enrollment of special children in their educational institutions.

She patted the institutions’ heads where dengue larva was not found and asked to follow the provincial government’s instructions to avoid dengue and corona in special education institutions. DG Pervez Iqbal Butt said work was in progress on 25 development schemes at a cost of Rs. 755 million. These projects include newly constructed and renovated buildings of special educational institutions, he added. 276 employees have been given time scale promotion and 22248 health smart cards have been made for special children.

Meanwhile, vaccination of students above 12 years of age has been completed, he added. Similarly, 112 computer labs are available to teach information technology to children. Video lectures are recorded for online education which is uploaded on the website of the special education department, he further said.

For more information, contact:
Directorate General Public Relations,
Government of the Punjab
Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-9201390-86
Website: www.punjab.gov.pk

Lahore, December 23, 2021 (PPI-OT):The Forest Department has achieved 93% of the designated target of monsoon tree planting campaign, according to the data released by the department. From July 1 to December 15, 42.731 million saplings have been planted across the province. The total target of the Monsoon Tree Planting Campaign is to plant 455 million trees. Forest department is only 7% away from the tree planting target for the first half of this year, which will be achieved by the end of this month. In most of the districts more trees were planted than the target i.e. 110% in Sargodha division, 105% in Sahiwal and Gujranwala divisions, 102% in Lahore division, 98% in Bahawalpur division, 99.5% in Faisalabad division, 95% in DG Khan division, 78% in Rawalpindi division and 75% in Multan division.

Minister Forests Sabtain Khan has also convened a high-level meeting today (December 22nd) to review the progress on tree plantation and to chalk out future course of action, and spring tree plantation targets will also be set. Expressing satisfaction over the results of tree planting so far, the Minister said that despite the scarcity of resources, the department is moving towards the set goal. He further stated that all capabilities are being utilized for Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision of Green Pakistan.

For more information, contact:
Directorate General Public Relations,
Government of the Punjab
Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-9201390-86
Website: www.punjab.gov.pk

Lahore, December 23, 2021 (PPI-OT):Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat while addressing a seminar at a local hotel as the chief guest said that Punjab government under the leadership of Chief Minister Usman Buzdar was taking concrete steps for the welfare of women. He said that Punjab government had introduced effective law to facilitate women in obtaining inheritance certificate. He said that the tenure of the first female ombudsman of Punjab was not fixed earlier which had been fixed at four years now.

Raja Basharat said that the Punjab government was setting up protection centers for women across the province whereas earlier this center was functioning only in Multan. He further said, “the Federal as well provincial law ministers conduct regular meetings to review the progress on implementation of women inheritance law and status of complaints received by the Women ombudsperson.” The Law Minister said that Pakistan had effective and strict laws pertaining to all walks of life but there was a need to implement them properly for which such awareness seminars and workshops could play a pivotal role.

Referring to the Sialkot tragedy, he said that for the growing trend of violence and extremism in Pakistan, it was necessary to promote attitudes like tolerance and forbearance. He said that what happened in Sialkot was against the beautiful norms and teachings of Islam. “The government is determined and is taking steps to ensure that those responsible of Sialkot incident are punished severely and that such incidents do not happen again,” he added.

For more information, contact:
Directorate General Public Relations,
Government of the Punjab
Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-9201390-86
Website: www.punjab.gov.pk

Lahore, December 23, 2021 (PPI-OT):US Consul General in Lahore William Macnoele called on Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat in the Punjab Assembly during which legislation process and the law and order situation in Punjab was discussed. Raja Basharat said on the occasion that Punjab government had so far enacted record legislation across the country while law and order situation in the province was satisfactory.

He said that those responsible for the Sialkot tragedy would be ensured to get maximum punishment for which the Police Department and Public Prosecution department had been directed to submit flawless challan within 30 days. He said that such steps were being taken so that no one would dare to commit such mischief in future.

The US Consul General said that the steps taken by the Punjab government to eradicate terrorism and extremism were commendable. He said law enforcing agencies were also doing laudable work to curb extremism. He said that the United States would continue its support for the development of education, health and other social sectors in Pakistan.

For more information, contact:
Directorate General Public Relations,
Government of the Punjab
Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-9201390-86
Website: www.punjab.gov.pk