‘23,000 people given facilities at Lahore shelter homes’

LAHORE: Punjab Minister for Social Welfare and Baitul-Maal Muhammad Ajmal Cheema has said Social Welfare Department has provided facilities to almost 23,000 people in five temporary shelter homes set up at five different points of Lahore.

These temporary shelter homes in tents had been established in association with the district government so that poor and destitute people from far-flung areas could take temporary refuge in them, he added. The minister was talking to the members of civil society and party workers who met him. Muhammad Ajmal Cheema said that the construction work of four out of five buildings of shelter homes has been completed while the remaining would be completed by the mid of next month.

He said development budget of the department had been raised from 550 million to 735 million rupees during this fiscal year. He said 176.95 million rupees had been allocated for new schemes. Almost 54.295 million rupees have been allocated for community welfare centres for transgenders, he said.