Ag APP
LAHORE : Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar chaired a meeting of the Overseas Pakistanis Commission (OPC) at the CM’s Office on Saturday to review the overall performance of the Commission.
The meeting gave approval to establish the OPC in south Punjab.
Buzdar said that setting up OPC in south Punjab would provide relief to the people of the area.
The meeting also decided to open the OPC desks at all e-Khidmat Marakaz in different districts of the province to solve problems of overseas Pakistanis at the grassroots level.
The meeting also gave approval for amendments to the OPC Act 2014 while the final approval for the amendments to the Act would be given by the Punjab cabinet.
The CM said that advisory councils should be formed at the earliest as per the rules and regulations.
He said the people having good repute should be included in the councils besides appointing members to the districts committees according to the rules and regulations.
He said the matter of giving allowances to the employees of the OPC Punjab should be sent to the Cabinet Committee for Finance and Development.
Moreover, he said that the case of recruitment on the vacant posts in the OPC should be re-submitted.
The CM ordered for speedy disposal of pending cases of overseas Pakistanis.
He said, “The overseas Pakistanis are our asset as their services for strengthening of national economy could not be ignored.”
He asserted that the Punjab government would safeguard the rights of overseas Pakistanis and ensure protection to their properties in Pakistan.
The CM was briefed that the Commission had resolved 12,532 complaints so far while action was being taken on the pending cases.
The advocate general Punjab, additional chief secretary, inspector general of police Punjab, Punjab OPC Vice-Chairman Waseem Akhtar, MPAs Omar Tanveer Butt, Khayal Ahmed Castro and Shahina Karim, Planning and Development chairman and additional chief secretary Home were also present. Senior members of the Board of Revenue attended the meeting via video link.
Body: On the instructions of Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, the Divisional Headquarters Monitoring and Implementation Committee has been constituted.
The principal secretary to the chief minister has issued notification in this regard, said a handout issued here on Saturday.
The committee will monitor and coordinate the municipal and urban infrastructure related issues, including cleanliness arrangements, water supply, sanitation, parks and horticulture, traffic management and parking problems. The divisional commissioner will head the committee.
RPOs, deputy Commissioners, DGs Development Authority, DG Parks and Horticulture Authority, Wasa managing directors, chief officers metropolitan/municipal corporation, MNAs, MPAs and representative members from the Chief Minister's Office will be the part of the committee.
tourism: Usman Buzdar has said that Allah Almighty has blessed Pakistan with many beautiful tourist destinations and tourism plays a vital role in socio-economic development of the country.
He said this in his message of World Tourism Day which would be observed on Sunday.
He said, "A new policy has been formulated by awarding tourism the status of an industry.”
The CM said that promotion of tourism provides employment opportunities for local people, adding that ancient and attractive civilizations of Pakistan attract local and foreign tourists.
The tourism sector is among the top priorities of the government, he added.
Usman Buzdar said that effective measures had been taken to improve tourist destinations by providing missing facilities for the tourists. He said that for tourism promotion, 179 rest houses had been opened for the public in Punjab and new tourist destinations were being developed in the province.