Power generation policy, other amendments approved

LAHORE:The 34th meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Legislative Business Punjab was held at Civil Secretariat under Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Social Welfare Raja Basharat here on Thursday.

Ministers Taimur Ahmed Khan, Hafiz Mumtaz Ahmed and Raja Yasir Humayun along with secretaries of relevant departments were present. The committee approved various proposals put forward by various departments after deliberation and discussions.

Among the proposals approved were amendments to the Power Generation Policy 2015 to make foreign currency payments in Chinese currency Yuan, increase in fines and imprisonment for violations of the wildlife laws and fee of registration and renewal of private wildlife breeding farms, the inclusion of PCP Air Gun, CO2 Air Gun and Silent Air Gun in Section 9 of Wildlife Protection Act 2007, regularisation of contract employees in the Public Health Engineering Department and Amendment in the Provincial Motor Vehicle Ordinance 1965 in order to re-register motor vehicles of other provinces in Punjab.

The Cabinet Committee nodded the proposal for appointment of Hassaan Ahmed Riaz Advocate and Khalid Mehmood Chaudhry Advocate as Assessors in Lahore Development Authority.

uplift schemes: A meeting of Provincial Steering Committee was held under Minister C&W Sardar Asif Nakai and Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bakht respectively, to review progress of ‘Naya Pakistan Manzalen Asaan’ Programme phase II.

Secretary C&W briefed the ministers that to provide better communication and transportation facilities to the underprivileged rural areas, Phase 1 of RAP was completed and the phase 2 will be launched soon. Three schemes for phase 2 of RAP were included in ADP 2019-20 with the allocation of Rs13,000 billion, however, same could not be launched due to stringent pecuniary issues and Covid-19.

In order to propagate this flagship programme, RAP schemes have been now included in ADP 2020-21. The scheme of construction and rehabilitation of roads in south Punjab areas Bahawalpur, DG Khan and Multan would be started on priority under RAP phase 2, he said.

Tree plantation: Department of Botany of Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) organised a tree plantation campaign under Prime Minister’s Clean and Green Pakistan Programme on the university’s Kala Shah Kaku (KSK) campus on Thursday. According to a press release, Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul Wazir was chief guest of the event. LCWU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Bushra Mirza in her inaugural address stressed the need for planting trees to solve the climate change problems.