CM Usman Buzdar approves Orange Train trial run on whole route

LAHORE:The physical infrastructure of Orange Line Metro Train project has been completed. The electrical trial run of metro train on its whole route would be held on December 10. Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has approved it and the ceremony would be held at the last station of Ali Town.

In this regard, a meeting was held under the chair of Chief Minister Usman Buzdar at his office here Friday in which secretary transport gave a briefing about the trial run of the train.

The chief minister directed the officials concerned to early complete roads’ repair work beneath the train route. The traffic problems should be solved early through an organised plan, he added.

Transport Minister Jehanzeb Khan Khitchi, MD Punjab Masstransit Authority, secretaries of transport and information departments, Commissioner and DIG (Ops) Lahore and others attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gull called on the chief minister at his office here Friday and discussed the strategy of dealing with smog issue and overcoming the environmental pollution.

Talking on this occasion, the chief minister regretted that past governments aggravated the political pollution through their corruption and spate of nepotism. Air pollution was increased by erecting tangled building infrastructure. Today, cities are polluted due to the wrong policies of the past, he regretted.

Usman Buzdar pledged that the PTI-led government would clean up both political as well as environmental pollutions of the past. He disclosed that urban forest stations would be set up at an area of 60,000 kanals in Lahore.

Meanwhile, he said that steel rolling industries and brick-kilns were being transferred to zigzag technology and added that a deadline of 2020 had been given in this regard. Usman Buzdar said the campaign of overcoming environmental pollution and smog had been expedited and maintained that Punjab Green Development Programme costing 273 million dollars will prove a game-changer in this regard. Besides, 30 new air quality monitoring stations will be set up in Punjab as overcoming the phenomenon of environmental degradation is very essential. The Punjab government has also constituted a taskforce to deal with the smog issue through a comprehensive strategy. The government is fully committed to providing a neat and clean environment to the people as effluence badly affects the environment as well as human health, the chief minister concluded.

MPS CALL ON CM

Provincial ministers and members of the Punjab Assembly called on Chief Minister Usman Buzdar at his office here Friday.

The parliamentarians apprised him of their constituency-related problems and the chief minister issued directions for the solution of the problems.

Talking on this occasion, the chief minister said the government vowed to serve the people adding that it had not come into power, as like the previous rulers, with any other specific agenda. The past governments worked for the fulfilment of personal agenda and problems of the common man were ignored badly, he regretted.

Usman Buzdar maintained that the steps taken by the PTI government for improving the people’s lot are unprecedented as public welfare is the focal point of the PTI’s policies. The government has no regard for the criticism made for the sake of criticism of anti-development elements as this government had come into power to improve the quality of people’s lives, he added.

Those who called on the chief minister included provincial ministers Ansar Majeed Khan Niazi, Ijaz Alam, Muhammad Ajmal Cheema, adviser Faisal Hayat Jabwana, assembly members Sahibzada Muhammad Ghazeen Abbasi, Muhammad Muneeb Sultan Cheema, Mahinder Paal Singh, Fida Hussain, Sajida Begum and Sabeen Gull Khan. Chief Whip Syed Abbas Ali Shah and others were also present.

MESSAGE ON NATIONAL VOTERS DAY

A vote is the foundation of democracy and a fundamental right of the people. This was stated by Chief Minister Usman Buzdar in his message issued here on the eve of national voters’ day. He said that people are the mainstay of power who decides about political rulers with the power of their votes. The societies that ignore the power of the vote succumb to societal decay, he added. The survival of democracy is linked with public awareness about the importance of the vote, he added. Every voter must express its opinion through the vote as voters are the real custodians of the democracy.

The chief minister emphasised that voters’ role is very important for the strengthening of democracy adding that the purpose of this day is to highlight the importance of the vote in a democratic society.