Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said special emphasis will be laid on poverty alleviation, the generation of job opportunities and the promotion of investment in the Annual Development Programme of the new budget. He said comprehensive measures will be taken under the ADP for the welfare of students, women as well as labourers, the development of the agricultural economy and the promotion of industrial and trade activities. Substantial funds will also be provided for this purpose, he added.
He said the ADP will be reflective of the public service vision of the Pakistan Muslim League-N and will usher in a new era of progress and development in the province. He said that living standard of the people will be improved through public welfare projects and the targets of good governance will be achieved through transparent utilisation of government funds. He was addressing a high level meeting held on Monday regarding the provincial budget for the fiscal year 2012-13.
Senator Ishaq Dar, Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Rana Mashhood Ahmad, provincial ministers, National and Provincial Assembly members, Planning and Development chairman and the secretaries of various departments and senior officers attended the meeting.
The chief minister said the new ADP has been evolved in line with peoples’ aspiration and a new programme will be introduced for poverty alleviation in the remote areas of the province.
He said special attention has been paid to projects for socio-economic development, maintenance of law and order and financial transparency during the last four years.
He said public funds are being utilised for the provision of basic amenities to the poor in a highly transparent manner. Opportunities for attaining quality education are being provided to the common man through result-oriented reforms in education sector while the measures taken for the progress and prosperity of the farming community have also yielded positive results, he said. Sharif stated that the green tractor scheme has helped in increasing per acre yield and tractors will be given to small-scale cultivators on reduced price under this scheme next year as well. He said besides the provision of laser land-levelers to the farmers, sprinkle irrigation system is also being introduced.
He said that the women constitute a major chunk of country’s population and the goal of rapid development cannot be achieved without their empowerment. The Punjab government has taken solid measures for the betterment of women. While issuing instructions for accelerating the implementation of the package announced for women empowerment, he said that four new universities are being established in the province for equipping women with modern education. He said an effective strategy has been adopted for providing job opportunities to the youth. In addition to Yellow Cab scheme, interest-free loans are also being offered to the youth for setting up their business, he added. He stated that the resources generated through curtailing non-developmental expenditure and through adopting austerity are also being spent on the provision of basic facilities to the masses.
Appreciating the proposal of the participants of the meeting regarding the ADP, the CM constituted a committee which will finalise its recommendations within next ten days. He directed that more schemes be evolved for the benefit of the poor under the ADP.
