LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Shahbaz Sharif has said that all resources are being utilised for rapid development of the province and welfare of the masses while timely and transparent completion of development projects is also being ensured. He said this, on Sunday, while presiding over a high-level meeting regarding implementation of different projects under special packages, for the fiscal year 2010-11, and priorities and timeframe for development schemes for the next fiscal year, 2011-12. The CM said that special attention was being paid to the uplift of rural areas and substantial funds had been allocated for the purpose. He directed that ongoing development projects be completed on priority basis and schemes that could benefit a maximum number of people should be selected and implemented in the current fiscal year.
He also issued instructions for setting up a committee of experts, headed by the chief secretary, which would then select three districts that showed better performance than others regarding implementation of development projects and utilisation of funds under special packages for large cities and districts and Southern Punjab Development Programme during the year 2010-11. On the contrary, the committee would also identify three districts that had shown poor performance in this regard. Senior Adviser Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khan Khosa, provincial ministers Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor, Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman, Kamran Michael, Ehsanud Din Qureshi, Member National Assembly Bilal Yaseen, Sardar Iyaz Sadiq, the chief secretary, secretaries of different departments and divisional commissioner also attended the meeting.
Planning and Development Secretary, Ali Tahir, gave a detailed briefing regarding different packages and their implementation under Southern Punjab Development Programme (SPDP), both for the last year as well as the current fiscal year. The CM commended the chief secretary’s performance as well as the performance of heads of various departments, divisional commissioner and district coordination officers regarding implementation of developmental projects and funds’ utilisation during the last fiscal year, which helped achieve the development targets. He informed that in addition to funds allocated for other districts, Rs 50 crore had been allocated each for Sargodha, Chiniot and Attock while Rs 25 crore were allocated for Mandi Bahauddin under districts packages programme for the current fiscal year.
He directed the chief secretary to award cash prizes to those district administrations’ showing good performances and to arrange for a special award function to be held in Lahore. The causes for poor administrative performances in some districts should also be ascertained, the CM said, adding that a report be submitted to him within ten days after looking into the reasons for slow pace of implementation of projects. The CM further talked about the model bazaars schemes, saying that the scheme had been initiated to provide quality essential items to people under a clean atmosphere. Talking about the upcoming month of Ramazan, he said that the Punjab government had announced a special package for the provision of quality consumer items to people during Ramazan.
Separately, Ali Tahir also explained the priorities and timeline of uplift schemes under Annual Development Programme for the year 2011-12. He informed that the developmental projects would be identified by July 31.
