Minorities playing vital role in uplift of country: minister

FAISALABAD: Punjab Minister for Minority Affairs and Human Rights Ijaz Alam Augustine on Sunday visited here and met with Commissioner Ishrat Ali at his office.

Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Ali was also present during the meeting. The minister discussed steps taken to promote welfare of minorities at the government level and praised the administration’s efforts to develop a deep interest in solving the problems of minorities. He also identified the problems of some churches and missionary schools. The commissioner said that minorities were playing a vital role in the development of the country and their problems could not be ignored. He said that measures were being implemented for the uplift of the minorities. Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Ali said that rapid and effective measures were being taken to review and resolve the problems faced during the Coordination Committee for Minority Affairs meetings at the district level.

‘PROBLEMS OF EXPATS TO BE RESOLVED ON PRIORITY’: The District Overseas Committee meeting was held at the DC Office here on Sunday.

Chairperson Mirza Muhammad Asghar, Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Ali and SSP Operations Syed Ali Raza listened to the issues of immigrants related to various district departments and police. The chairperson said that a committee meeting on the directives of Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar was being held regularly every month and the problems of the overseas Pakistanis related to the district departments were being resolved on priority basis. He said that the concerned departments of the district should ensure speedy relief to the overseas Pakistanis so that their problems could be resolved. Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Ali said that serious steps were being taken to resolve the complaints and problems of overseas Pakistanis in the district. He said that strict instructions had been issued to the assistant commissioners and revenue officers for early disposal of property related cases. He urged the concerned departments to settle cases on merit. He said that he would not allow anyone to seize the property of overseas Pakistanis. As many as 17 applications of overseas Pakistanis relating to the police, revenue, FDA and other departments were reviewed during the meeting.

Wasa defaulters: FDA Director General Sohail Khawaja has constituted special recovery squads for collecting the arrears from the defaulters of the Wasa. He took this decision while reviewing the pace of recovery campaign during a meeting. Wasa Managing Director Faqir Muhammad Ch and other officers were present in the meeting. The FDA Director General directed the squads for detecting the illegal connections of water supply and sewerage besides ensuring 100PC recovery of arrears from the defaulters of the Wasa. He expressed his displeasure over the slow pace of recovery and directed for accelerating the departmental steps for maximum recovery. He said the organised methodology should be adopted for collecting the dues of water supply and sewage services separately. He stressed upon taking serious measures against the illegal connections and warned that the departmental action would be taken against the officials of the Wasa if they found involved in providing or ignoring illegal connections. He said that assistance of special magistrates and police force would also be provided to the special recovery squads for collecting arrears from the defaulters.