‘Every sector to be reformed’

LAHORE Punjab Senior Minister Abdul Aleem Khan has said that reforms at wide scale to be introduced in Punjab in all sectors and priorities have already been set on which task of implementation would be fulfilled.

He expressed these views while talking to Department for International Development (DFID) Head in Pakistan Ms Joanna Reid who called on him here on Thursday. The minister said in Punjab most of the issues and difficulties are being faced due to financial crunch which has been left due to the wrong policies of the last government. He said N-league government started a number of projects with ill planning and just for political benefit. He said due to the present circumstances in Punjab ‘we had to cut down annual development programme which will affect over all development’. He told the DFID Head that only for Lahore City Rs 1.25 billion per month being spent on waste collection while projects like metro and orange line train are also big burden in which heavy subsidy is involved which cannot be continued on permanent basis. The senior minister said that in Punjab new Local Bodies System will bring change at provincial level and through village council development would start simultaneously in 25,000 villages while 30 per cent funds would be transferred to them directly from annual development programme. He said consultation has already been completed and new local body’s bill can be presented in Punjab Assembly at anytime which will open new doors of progress and prosperity with the financial and administrative powers to the newly elected represented. He thanked DFID Head for cooperation in education, health and other sectors and assured his all out cooperation in this regard.

In her conversation, DFID Head in Pakistan Ms Joanna Reid lauded the efforts of the present government regarding 100 Days Plan and other initiatives in different sectors and assured that her institution would enhance cooperation. She said Minister of DFID from UK will shortly visit Pakistan and will meet Aleem Khan in Lahore. Ms Joanna Reid exchanged views with the senior minister regarding bilateral cooperation in different departments. DFID Representative for Punjab & Lahore Jinal Shah was also present in the meeting.

PU seminar: Punjab University Centre for South Asian Studies (CSAS) organised a seminar on ‘Benefit of opening Kartarpur corridor for Sikh community of South Asia’. University of Education’s Department of History Prof Dr Akhtar Sandhu, GCU Department of Punjabi Assistant Professor Dr Kalyan Singh Kalyan, Director CSAS Prof Dr Umbreen Javaid, faculty members and students attended the seminar.

Prof Dr Akhtar said the partition of India’s independence ripped the state of Punjab into two parts and a number of Sikh shrines in Pakistan, Sikhs in India have always longed for easy access to places of pilgrimages. He shed light on the topic and highlighted the importance of Kartarpur corridor for Sikh community, India and Pakistan. Dr Kalyan said the Kartarpur corridor, when it would become functional, would benefit pilgrims from the both sides.