Conducting free, fair polls prime duty: CM

LAHORE : Caretaker Chief Minister Punjab Mohsin Naqvi chaired the first meeting of the Provincial Cabinet here on Saturday and expressed his commitment to ensure transparent, fair, free and peaceful general elections.

The primary responsibility of the caretaker government was to conduct transparent and fair elections, said Mohsin Naqvi. He added that the present government will ensure the conduct of transparent and fair general elections in light of the instructions of the Election Commission of Pakistan.

“Till then, we want to do some work for the welfare of the people, which will give relief to the people,” he said.

The caretaker cabinet of Punjab voluntarily announced that it will not take salary and government housing facilities. Supervisory Provincial Ministers Dr Javed Akram, SM Tanveer, Ibrahim Murad, Bilal Afzal, Jamal Nasir, Mansoor Qadir, Syed Azfar Ali Nasir, Aamir Mir, Chief Secretary Zahid Akhtar Zaman, Inspector General of Police Dr Usman Anwar and related officials attended the meeting.

The Chief Minister said that for the last one and a half years, police officers and youth have sacrificed their lives but their families have not received any financial assistance. Funds of Rs one billion were approved for the financial assistance of the families of martyrs of Punjab Police in the meeting. The families of police martyrs will be given financial assistance at the rate of Rs35 lakh per person, the cabinet decided and consented to relax the departmental rules for the recruitment of the children of martyrs in the police and children of martyrs will be given special discount regarding height and chest measurements.

The cabinet further decided to provide financial assistance to the widows of police officers and jawans who died in other accidents.

The Chief Minister directed the Inspector General of Police and senior police officials to hold open courts and issue immediate action and orders on public complaints.

The caretaker Chief Minister also directed for advance planning for maximum relief to people during the sacred month of Ramazan ul Mubarak. He said the preparation of Ramazan package should be started from now so that the people could get real relief in the blessed month. Caretaker Chief Minister directed all provincial ministers to visit various cities to assess the availability of cheap flour while strict and indiscriminately action should be taken against land mafia. The caretaker Chief Minister also ordered to start a large-scale crackdown to curb the use of ice and other drugs in educational institutions. “We have to protect our new generation from drugs,” he added.

The meeting approved the reorganisation of the Cabinet Standing Committees for Finance and Development, Legal Affairs and Law and Order. The cabinet also formally approved the appointment of Dr Usman Anwar as Inspector General of Police Punjab.

The cabinet was briefed about the law and order situation in the province and the actions taken against the criminal elements.

The Chief Secretary briefed the cabinet about government affairs, functions of government departments, administrative structure and rules of business.

The cabinet was also briefed on wheat reserves and requirements. The Punjab government currently has 14 lakh 80 thousand metric tons of wheat while 2.5 lakh metric tons of wheat was being procured from PASCO, he said.

The Chief Secretary Punjab said a 10-kg flour bag of wheat was available at Rs648 and 26 thousand tonnes of wheat were being released to the flour mills daily.