Punjab Cabinet approves 20kg free flour bag from 29th

LAHORE: Caretaker cabinet of the Punjab government has approved giving a free bag of 20 kg flour to deserving people from March 29, 2023.

The decision was made in the 11th meeting of the Provincial Cabinet held at the Chief Minister’s Office under the chairmanship of caretaker Chief Minister Punjab Mohsin Naqvi here on Saturday.

Addressing the meeting, Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi said that the provincial ministers and secretaries should continue visiting the centres and send their reports to the Chief Minister’s office.

The meeting also reviewed various suggestions regarding making the free flour registration process easier and a committee consisting of provincial ministers and senior officials was formed, which will present its final recommendations regarding registration.

In the meeting, the provision of free flour throughout Punjab was also reviewed in detail and the Punjab Cabinet expressed satisfaction over the process of providing flour. The cabinet was informed during the briefing that so far more than 70 lakh flour bags have been distributed to the deserving people.

Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi said that markets should also be checked to ensure the availability of essential items at fixed prices and the entire administration should be active in this regard.

In the meeting, the ad hoc recruitment of doctors and other staff in the Department of Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education and the Department of Primary and Secondary Healthcare was also approved.

The cabinet also approved the extension of tenure of contract employees of Public Health Engineering Department and Social Welfare and Baitul Mal while approval was given to transfer the land of the Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education Department to the Department of Special Education in Johar Town for the establishment of a state-of-the-art autism centre for special children.

Punjab Cabinet expressed dissatisfaction over the performance of the Child Protection Bureau and it was decided that the institution would be restructured. The cabinet was informed during the briefing that there are 1050 children in the centres of Child Protection Bureau while the number of staff of the institution was 750.

In the meeting, it was directed to take care of the children in the centres of Child Protection Bureau in the best way. The Punjab Cabinet approved the MoU between Social Welfare and Baitul-Mal Department and Institute of Health Sciences. The cabinet’s standing committee on Universal Health Insurance was also approved. Provincial Minister Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education Dr. Javed Akram was nominated as the chairman of the committee while Provincial Minister for Industries SM Tanveer will be the chairman of the committee.

In the meeting, approval was given to the appointment of chairpersons in the Drug Courts of Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and Gujranwala.

In the meeting, the audit reports of the accounts of the Government of Punjab for the year 2020-21 and 2021-22 were also approved. In the meeting, the decisions of the first 10 meetings of the Punjab Cabinet were ratified. Provincial Ministers, Chief Secretary, Inspector General of Police, Secretaries of concerned departments attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, Caretaker Chief Minister Punjab Mohsin Naqvi made a surprise visit of two centres made for the provision of free flour at Sheikhupura on Saturday.

The citizens heaped a pile of complaints in the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) with regard to the registration process.

The citizens complained that the registration process was very sluggish in the BISP centres, said a handout issued here.

The CM assured the citizens to redress their complaints and stated that he would talk with the Federal government and with the officials of BISP in this regard.

CM also reviewed provision of free flour arrangements at the centres.

He inspected the citizens registration as well as flour distribution process.

CM directed to further improve flour distribution and other arrangements at the centres.

Mohsin Naqvi asserted that the citizens should not face any sort of difficulty at the centres.

He also checked the weight of flour bags and stated that a family obtaining one flour bag would be given 20kg flour bag at the same time from 29th of March at the centres.

He highlighted that the citizens would not only be provided relief but would also be saved from the inconvenience of visiting the centres time and again.

The chief minister apprised that a committee has been constituted to ease the registration process.

He took a prompt action on the complaints of citizens and issued directions to the staff members on the spot.

Caretaker CM also visited the district headquarters (DHQ) hospital Sheikhupura and reviewed the medical facilities being provided to the citizens.

He visited emergency ward and other sections of the hospitals to inspect the arrangements.