New era starts in South Punjab: CM

LAHORE:Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar Thursday said the PTI-led government had been taking solid measures to end a sense of deprivation in the South Punjab people as a new era of development had been started there.

In a statement, he said the government was fulfilling every promise made with the people as the government believed in performance instead of hollow slogans. He regretted that South Punjab was badly ignored in the past as the previous governments continued to beguile the people while spending the South Punjab budget in favourite districts. He said the South Punjab secretariat had been given administrative autonomy and 17 departments attached with it. Now, the people would not have to travel to Lahore for solution to their problems, he added. The PTI government was giving the people of South Punjab their rights and its budget would not be spent for any other purpose, he added.

Meanwhile, the chief minister said the steps taken for betterment of farmers had started yielding results regarding development of the agriculture sector on modern lines. In a statement, the CM expressed his satisfaction that the record harvest of wheat, sugarcane and other crops had been achieved in 2020-21. The 40kg support price of wheat and sugarcane had been ensured at the rate of Rs1,800 and Rs200, respectively, he said.

Meanwhile, 2.09-million-ton wheat, 57m-ton sugarcane, 5.6m-ton potatoes, 1.9m-ton green gram, 7.8m-ton maize, 5.3m-ton paddy rice and 90,000-ton sesame crops were produced in Punjab, added Usman Buzdar. It was satisfying that the maiden agriculture policy had been approved and being implemented in the province, he added. Furthermore, 147 new crop varieties had been approved by the Punjab Seed Corporation and 146 new grain markets registered under the Punjab Agricultural Marketing Regulatory Authority Act, he said and added that farmers’ platforms had also been set up in 105 agriculture markets across Punjab.

The government was paying Rs1.5 billion premium to the insurance companies for crops’ insurance and the subsidy amounts were being directly transferred to farmers’ accounts due to the launch of Kissan cards, he said.

Highlighting the PM Emergency Programme, the CM affirmed that the work was in progress on several agriculture projects valuing Rs300 billion and Rs12.5 billion subsidies were given on fertilizers along with Rs4.4 billion subsidies for the purchase of certified seeds and agriculture machinery.

Similarly, farmers were given Rs650 million subsidy for buying laser land levellers in addition to the provision of interest-free loans amounting to Rs45 million through an e-credit scheme, he said. It was satisfying that farmers had earned an additional income of Rs3 billion due to restoration of barren lands in various parts of the province. A sum of Rs3.62 billion was reserved for purchasing the latest drip/ sprinkler system with the facility of 60 percent subsidy, he said. Similarly, a sum of Rs420 million was allotted to install the solar system with the facility of a 50 percent subsidy, added the CM.