Huge funds for public welfare: CM

LAHORE
Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that funds are trust of nation and every penny of public money is being spent honestly only on the people's welfare and provision of basic amenities to them.He said that billions of rupees of public money had been saved by holding successful negotiations with the lowest bidders for various projects and this example set up by the Punjab government was unprecedented in the history of the country.
Talking to a delegation of PML-N office-bearers and workers here Sunday, the chief minister said the Punjab government was spending billions of rupees on education, health, water supply and other public welfare projects. He said that mega projects of public welfare had been completed expeditiously and in a transparent manner throughout the province and people were fully benefitting from these projects. He said a big programme had been started for the provision of potable water in all tehsils of Punjab till 2017 under Saaf Pani Project and billions of rupees were being spent for this purpose.
He said special attention had been paid to the improvement of health facilities in the province. He said that besides construction of new hospitals, availability of doctors and medicines was being ensured in tehsil and district headquarters hospitals and rural and basic health centres. He said that foundation stone of Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and Research Centre had been laid in Lahore and 100 percent free treatment would be provided to deserving patients in this institute constructed with a huge sum of billions of rupees. He said the Punjab government had included people of all the provinces as well as Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan in all its programmes which had promoted national solidarity.
self-employment: Provincial Minister for Zakat and Usher Malik Nadeem Kamran has said that the amount allocated under self-employment scheme for the permanent rehabilitation of deserving students has been increased from Rs41 million to Rs60 million whereas the process of distribution of sewing machines among widows and destitute women is also being started to make them independent. A sum of Rs20 million has been allocated for this purpose, he added. According to a handout issued here Sunday, the minister stated that government was implementing a comprehensive programme for permanent rehabilitation of deserving and destitute persons.