Shahbaz orders safe recovery of kidnapped cops

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Sunday directed the officials concerned to ensure safe recovery of the kidnapped police personnel in the Kacha area of Rajanpur at the earliest.

He said all available resources should be utilised for the purpose and asked the IGP to submit a detailed report on the issue. Separately, the chief minister appreciated the performance of the Punjab medical team in dealing with the dengue epidemic in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said full cooperation should be extended to the provincial government and the people over there to save them from dengue. He directed the members of the medical teams and mobile health unit to work round the clock to provide services to the effected patients.

Shahbaz, on the other hand, termed agriculture as the backbone of national economy and said problems like poverty and unemployment could be overcome through advancement in agriculture and livestock.

Referring to the Kissan Package, he said the PML-N government had made development of agriculture and farmers' prosperity as a top priority, adding that agricultural sector and farmers-friendly policies were fundamental mainstay of the economic plan.

The chief minister said progressive strides had been taken to increase per acre production to change the condition of small farmers and added that billions of rupees were allocated to make them self-reliant.

The decrease in electricity rate for tube-wells, supply of fertilizers at cheapest rates and precision of agricultural goods at discounted prices had also facilitated small cultivators, he added.  

The chief minister was talking to a delegation of lawmakers belonging to different districts.  He said the PML-N had always given priority to the interest of farmers and the Kissan Package and the interest-free loans programme were a reflection of that policy.

Shahbaz said transparent and foolproof system through modern technology was devised to implementation and billions of rupees had been distributed to the small farmers so far through digital system. He said the initiatives had started producing positive results – especially increase in both crop production and under-cultivation area.