Clean drinking water body formed

LAHORE : Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar presided over a meeting regarding provision of clean drinking water to the masses in the province at Governor House here Tuesday.

Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, Senior Minister Abdul Aleem Khan, provincial Law Minister Raja Basharat, Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering Department Minister Mian Mehmood-ur-Rasheed, Punjab Finance Minister Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht, Irrigation Minister Mohsin Laghari, Chief Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar and Advocate General (AG) Punjab and administrative secretaries from the Local Government, Housing, Planning and Development (P&D) departments attended the meeting.

During the meeting, a seven-member committee was constituted headed by Provincial Law Minister Raja Basharat. The committee has been tasked to submit its report along with recommendations within 15 days to Punjab Governor and Chief Minister for approval. Advocate General Punjab, Secretaries of Local Government, Housing, Irrigation and Law department would be members of the committee.

Speaking on the occasion, Punjab Governor said that Clean Drinking Water Committees in the province at tehsil level would be headed by assistant commissioner while local representatives, businessman and government officials would be members of these committees. He said these committees would be responsible for provision of water schemes, installation of water filtration plants and their upkeep. Sarwar said the government believed in transfer of power to the grassroots level, adding that amendments to the local Government (LG) system were being introduced under which village councils would be empowered.

The chief minister said provision of clean drinking water in remote and backward areas of the province would be ensured on priority basis. He said a comprehensive policy was being adopted for the provision of basic amenities of life to the masses as per instructions of the prime minister. Usman Buzdar said that the PTI government would fulfil its promises made with the masses and come up to their expectations.