Minister orders master plan to resolve water, sanitation issues

LAHORE:Punjab Finance Minister Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht asked the local government department to prepare a master plan to resolve the issue of water and sanitation for big and small cities comprehensively instead of making plans separately.

He ordered active monitoring and repairing mechanism for Metro Bus Service to maintain the quality of services, besides making operational estimates for Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) during the ongoing fiscal year.

The ongoing schemes which were not completed due to non-availability of the resources should be reviewed and included in the next annual development programme. The minister was chairing the 27th meeting of the Cabinet Standing Committee for Finance. Punjab Minister for Industry and Trade Mian Aslam Iqbal, Adviser to Chief Minister for Finance Dr Salman Shah, Chief Secretary Punjab Azam Suleman Khan, and other officials concerned attended the meeting.

Different departments submitted 23 proposals of their respective departments. The meeting approved the proposals of PKLI of converting the Rs1.5 billion non-development expenditures into development budget, supplementary grant for new schemes of school education department, upgradation of Bibi Pakdaman shrine, approval of funds for ongoing schemes of the local government and community development.

The minister instructed planning and development and finance departments to investigate the reason of reconstruction of the judicial academy boundary wall in short period, audit the income and expenditures of Punjab Public Service Commission.

He also instructed the DG Sports to present sponsorship details of Kabadi World Cup to estimate the complete expenditures before releasing grants for it. The meeting also discussed incomplete schemes of the road sector and education department service and pension rules.

The minister instructed the finance department to review the service and pension rules before the next budget. He ordered to present the revenue collection report of all tax and non tax collecting department. The meeting also approved the business plan of Punjab Capital Market Management Company.

JICA signs MoU: The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Punjab government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) here on Friday to improve all the water and sanitation agencies (WASAs) through capacity building.

The agreement was signed at the Punjab Planning and Development Department, officials said, adding Aljazari Academy for Water and Sanitation of the Urban Unit would be one of the local partners to perform capacity building activities. The activities including need assessment, gap analysis, preparation of respective courses, in-class and on-job training would be held in Pakistan and Japan, they maintained.

The Urban Unit will support the WASAs and focus on gaining mutual benefits through consultations, cooperation and agreements.

According to the agreement, WASAs will be responsible for the implementation of Capacity Building Project and coordinate with other relevant organisations and ensure that the self-reliant operation of the project was sustained during and after the implementation period to contribute to social and economic development.

The Record of Discussion was signed by Urban Unit CEO Khalid Sherdil, Lahore WASA Managing Director Syed Zahid Aziz and Special Secretary Housing Punjab Shafiq Ahmed on behalf of the Punjab government whereas IWASE Makoto and Omura Yoshiki represented JICA.

Dr Nobuyuki Sato and Chiaki Suzuki from JICA and Urban Unit Chief Operating Officer Abid Hussainy were also present.

LWMC: Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) has stopped over three dozen ineligible Zonal Monitoring Officers (ZOs) here Friday.

The decision was made by LWMC Managing Director Rao Imtiaz. He said those who were stopped from working as ZOs were not terminated but were sent to their original place of duty.

Sources in the company said that several clerks, typists and other junior officers had got their postings as ZOs by use of political and personal influence. The post of ZO in LWMC is typically known for minting money as well as providing shelter to ghost workers, sources said, adding several ZOs were working on stay orders as in past when LWMC transferred them, they got stay orders from the courts.

As per the new list issued by LWMC MD, the new ZOs are: Shafqat Ali, Naseer Ahmed, Gulzar Butt, Zubair Farooqi, Anwarul Haq Butt, Kashif John, Syed M Zaki, Javed Butt, Nadeem Akhtar, M Naeem Akhtar, Muhammad Saeed, M Tariq Masood, M Jamil, Muhammad Tauseef, Irshad Ali, Muhammad Yousaf, Akbar Masih, Sajjad Bukhari, Abdul Waheed, Kamran Saeed Butt, Asim Aftab, Kamran Aqil, Zaheeruddin Babar, Ghulam Farid, Syed Ghulam Raza, Muhammad Awais, Rashid Mehmood and Javed Gondal.