LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar and Punjab Assembly Speaker Ch Pervaiz Elahi visited the under-construction building of Punjab Assembly here on Thursday.
They were given briefing about leftover works of the under-construction building. The chief minister and speaker inspected different parts and under-construction hall. They also visited the under-construction masjid and directed to complete the remaining work at the earliest. The chief minister directed that construction work should be completed as soon as possible. He said funds were not allocated for the construction of the building during the previous tenure and added that incumbent government will provide required funds on the priority basis so that construction work could be completed soon.
The chief minister while talking to the media afterwards said that building of Punjab Assembly is 90 years old and the number of assembly members has been increased now. Due to it, the actual building has been facing the shortage of seating capacity. Today, we have inspected the under-construction building and we have been told that funds were not allocated for the construction of this building during the last ten years. Due to it, the work remained stopped but our government will soon complete this building and funds will be provided on priority basis. By the grace of Allah Almighty, next budget session will be held in the new building of the assembly, he said and added expansion in the cabinet will be made soon. The CM said he has taken notice of the incidents that occurred with regard to postings and transfers in Chakwal and Rajanpur. Report has been sought and further action will be initiated within the jurisdiction of law. He said transparent procedure has been finalised for the auction of lease of 22 LDA petrol pumps and advertisement has been released to the newspapers. Meanwhile, police officials deputed in LDA for a long period have been recalled immediately and new staff is being posted in place of them. To a question, he said law and order situation is better than before and it would be further improved.
Speaker Ch Pervaiz Elahi said work on this building has remained stopped due to Shahbaz Sharif and as a result, the building cost has been increased to three billion rupees. Shahbaz Sharif is responsible for this loss of three billion rupees and this amount should be recovered from him as perhaps he has assumed the assembly a hospital and that is why funds were not released. He said PML-N members had also not raised their voice during the last ten years to pressurise Shehbaz Sharif for the construction of new building. Shehbaz Sharif created hurdles in the construction of this building and funds were not released even for the construction of masjid, he said. On the other side, we had donated one month salary for the construction of masjid, he added. Now, chief minister Usman Buzdar has assured that the construction of masjid will also be completed soon. He said he has talked to the chief minister about improving hospitals and added that new hospitals will also be constructed so that rush of patients could be minimized. This would help to provide best healthcare facilities to the citizens, he added. He said that Seerat Academy and Ulema Board will also be activated as no attention was given to both the institutions in the past. The chief minister and the speaker also planted saplings outside the under-construction building and prayed for success of plant for Pakistan campaign.
