Punjab CM tells bureaucrats…: Take ministers on board over departmental decisions

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has directed bureaucracy to take the ministers concerned on board over all decisions related to their departments.

He issued these directions while chairing the 24th Punjab cabinet meeting here on Thursday. Provincial ministers, advisors, special assistants, chief secretary and others attended the meeting, which was followed by a dinner.

Sources said bureaucrats from all departments attended the meeting this time, though the previous ones were skipped by many and some of them were also issued notices.

Sources said that during the meeting, Husnain Bahadur Dareshak, one of the noted political figures from Rajanpur and Minister for Livestock, informed the chief minister that he was not taken on board over some core issues related to his department.

Sources said the minister highlighted the issue related to one of the 56 companies, which pertained to his ministry and he was not taken on board over a key decision related to it. The officials told the minister that so far no decision had been taken about the company related to the Livestock and he was assured that he would be taken into confidence over any decision.

While responding to the complaint, the CM Punjab immediately directed the bureaucracy to take the ministers on board while making decisions related to their ministries.

The Punjab meeting endorsed minutes of 23rd meeting along with the approval of decisions made in the 21st and 22nd meetings of cabinet standing committee on finance and development. The Punjab cabinet decided to immediately release 50 crore rupees for the purchase of machinery and adoption of necessary steps for combating locust attack.

The CM said that there was no wheat or flour crisis, adding that the Punjab government had ample wheat reserves and wheat was alsobeing provided to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.

The cabinet was told that locust attack had occurred after 27 years and the line departments were fully active to counter it. The meeting was given a briefing about anti-locust steps, wheat reserves and future strategy.

The Punjab cabinet meeting gave approval to amendments to the Punjab Stamp Rules 1934. Under it, complete data of stamp vendors would be automated and they would be given smart cards for sale and purchase of less-value stamp papers.

Moreover, it also approved Punjab Electronic Invoice Monitoring System Rules 2019 and also approved an amendment to the second schedule of Punjab Sales Tax on Services Act 2012. This amendment would facilitate the construction industry. Punjab cabinet decided to amend MoU with Novartis till June 2020 for treatment of cancer patients and the terms of reference (ToRs) of the second memorandum of understanding (MoU) will be re-examined.

The meeting decided to constitute a committee to submit proposals after review of the second MoU. The meeting approved amendments to Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960 and Probation of Offenders Rules 1961, while amendments to the Punjab Police Special Branch Technical Cadre Service Rules 2016 were also decided for the post of Principal Police Dog Breeding Centre and Training School Special Branch Punjab, Lahore.

The cabinet approved nomination of Justice Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah for the post of Chairperson Punjab Environmental Tribunal Lahore along with the approval of the name of Kashif Iqbal for the post of President Anjuman Nashran-e-Quran Majeed Urdu Bazaar Lahore.

The cabinet decided to install a plant for disposing of damaged or shaheed (old torn-out) pages of Holy Quran in a correct and respectful way. The Punjab cabinet allowed Madina Foundation to install the disposal plant.

The meeting approved the Punjab Drug and Cosmetics Amendment Act 2019 and decided legislation for regularisation of LHVs and other staff of reproductive maternal, neonatal, children, health and nutrition programme and approved to end the condition of dying cadre for LHVs and other staff under this programme.

Approval of amendments to the LDA land use regulation and University of Wah Act 2019 was granted and approval was also granted for establishment of a trust under CSR for provision of Sui-gas in special economic zones.

The meeting decided to relocate patwar circle of Qila Sattar Shah, Wandala Nasir and Chuiyanwali Kalan from tehsil Muridke to tehsil Ferozwala.

It was also decided to include Darwat village of district Chakwal in Talagang tehsil and audit report of Auditor General of Pakistan about the audit of disaster management organizations in Punjab for the financial year 2018-19 was given approval. While deferring the decision to allow Quaid-e-Azam Thermal Power (Pvt) Ltd to mortgage project land under Section 43-A of the Land Acquisition Act, the cabinet committee for legislative business was directed to submit a comprehensive report in this regard.