Buzdar briefs top federal ministers on uplift projects in Punjab

Top federal ministers Friday called on Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar and discussed with him the development and public welfare projects in the province.

The chief minister while briefing the ministers included Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, Shafqat Mahmood, and Fawad Chaudhry and Adviser to PM on Accountability Shahzad Akbar on Friday said that the provincial authorities are taking measures for equal opportunity of development for every district of the province so that no area is left behind during the process.

“We have set a target to complete 1,394 ongoing uplift projects in the province during the current fiscal year,” he said, adding that they had disbursed Rs56 billion record relief for masses in the province during COVID-19 pandemic besides also increasing the social sector budget including that of health and education departments.

The chief minister Punjab said that they have lowered taxes in the province and are rather focusing on broadening the tax net. “We rejected supplementary grants of upto Rs61 billion and are strictly following financial discipline in the provincial departments,” said Usman Buzdar.

He announced to learn from the expertise of the federal ministers in the development process and said that other than provincial members, the MNAs from the province are also part of his team.

“We will ensure that the MNAs get their due rights,” he said and stressed upon the need to work in a coordinated manner at federal and provincial levels for the betterment of the masses.

The federal ministers also conveyed their suggestions to the chief minister, to which he assured to implement upon them. The meeting was also briefed on various projects by the provincial bureaucrats.