LAHORE: Inaugurating the “Apni Chhat, Apna Ghar” scheme here on Wednesday, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has said that this project was the dream of Nawaz Sharif under which 0.4 million houses would be built in the next five years.
While addressing the cheques distribution ceremony, Maryam said that the Punjab government has made this scheme very easy and loans would be given only on land documents and a copy of the identity card. She added that the government is going to give the first instalment of the loan in a short period of one and a half months.
She claimed that balloting would be held every month, as more than 0.5 million applications have been received so far under the scheme. She said that the monthly instalment was reduced from Rs 15,000 to Rs 14,000.
“There would not be even a single rupee of interest on the loan, if you have taken a loan of Rs 1.5 million then only Rs 1.5 million will have to be returned in easy instalments,” she added.
While addressing the ceremony, the PML-N President Nawaz Sharif advised the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder to be humble, never speak lofty words and seek forgiveness from Almighty Allah. “In KPK hospitals, there were no medical facilities and that was why the people of KPK turn to Punjab hospitals,” he added. He asked the PTI to offer health cards, Kisan cards, loan schemes and other facilities in the province.
Nawaz maintained that elected governments were not allowed to complete their terms; had the PML-N governments been allowed to work, there would have not been a single homeless family in the country. Recounting his achievements, he said that during his first term as PM, many public welfare schemes were launched but these schemes were not completed. He recounted that the PML-N made record uplift work in the country. The PML-N overcame the wave of terrorism, PML-N made the country an atomic power, PML-N said goodbye to IMF, he added. He questioned why the PTI has not started the Apna Ghar scheme in KPK. He accused the PTI of being violent and ineffective, saying, “These people are number one in violence and zero in performance.”
He asked the PTI supporters to ask the PTI founder what is his performance. He said that the PTI supporters and workers reached Punjab with tear gases and other weapons. Nawaz said, “There are talks of Punjab being invaded by the KPK government; do they want to start a war between the provinces? Bloodshed will not be allowed,” he warned. He said that he was in jail because of his (Imran) actions who used to say that he would take out an elected Prime Minister from the PM House with a rope in his neck and now he is behind bars.
He also compared the PML-N’s governance record with that of PTI, saying, “We said goodbye to the IMF, but our opponents brought it back. There’s a stark difference between the politics of service and the politics of lies.”
Talking about former Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, Nawaz said, “I still have the audio of Saqib Nisar saying that Nawaz Sharif must be removed and Imran Khan must be brought in.”
He added, “Five judges removed an elected prime minister representing 250 million people, and no one questioned them.”
Nawaz also lauded the Punjab government’s “Apni Chhat, Apna Ghar” scheme, calling it a significant public initiative. “This project is a great example of public money being spent for the public,” he said, adding that every time they take four steps forward, they are pushed eight steps back; if the work the PML-N started in the 1990s had continued, Pakistan would have been a prosperous nation today, envied by the world.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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