‘Proposal to establish mini Punjab secretariat in Multan in final stage’

MULTAN: Punjab Governor Malik Rafiq Rajwana has said that the proposal of establishing the mini Punjab Secretariat in Multan is in final process.He said this while talking to the editors and the bureau chiefs of various newspapers and channels at the Multan Circuit House on Saturday.

He said that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had sought recommendations from the commission made to prepare a draft on establishing the mini Punjab Secretariat. He said that the Multan Metro inauguration was expected on January 21 as all affairs had been finalised and the metro stations were ready to make them operational. The governor said that PM Nawaz Sharif and Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif were taking various steps for uplift of health and education sectors.

They were keen to adopt international role model of health facilities particularly Turkish health role model, he added. The Punjab government had offered Pakistanis serving abroad to serve in the country on desired conditions, he disclosed. The Multan Institute of Cardiology extension funds would be released in the next few days, he informed. The District Jail Multan would be shifted on Mati Tal Road, he added.

Expressing his views on the Local Government system, Governor Rafiq Rajwana said that the LG representatives had been fully empowered in performing their affairs at all levels. Responding to a query regarding powerlessness of the LG representative than the bureaucracy, he said that the Local Government system was new, adding that if there would be imbalance in powers, it would be amended in future. He said that the Local Government representatives had their own jurisdictions and parameters while the bureaucracy performs her job in the ambit of law and constitution. The governor rejected the impression that the government was giving more powers to the bureaucracy than the LG representatives. He said that the LG system was newly inducted so it might create some issues, however all matters would be resolved soon.

The Punjab governor said that the media role was vital for highlighting the public problems. The Nespak had prepared the Multan Sewerage Master Plan and work on numbers of schemes was in progress, the Punjab governor added.