Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that special emphasis will be laid to poverty alleviation, job opportunities and promotion of investment in the Annual Development Programme (ADP) of the upcoming budget. He was addressing a meeting held here on Monday regarding provincial budget for the fiscal year 2012-13.
Senator Ishaq Dar, Deputy Speaker Punjab Assembly, Rana Mashhood Ahmad, provincial ministers, members National and Provincial Assembly, chief secretary, chairman Planning and Development, secretaries of various departments and senior officers attended the meeting, disclosed an official.
The CM said comprehensive measures will be taken under ADP 2012-13 for the welfare of students, women as well as labourers, development of agri economy and promotion of industrial and trade activities. "Substantial funds will be provided for this purpose. The ADP will be reflective of public service vision of Pakistan Muslim League-N and will usher in a new era of progress and development in the province. Living standard of the people will be improved through public welfare projects and the targets of good governance will be achieved through transparent utilization of government funds," he added.
According to him, the new ADP is being evolved in line with the peoples' aspiration and a new programme will be introduced for the development and poverty alleviation in the province. Special attention has been paid to the projects of socio-economic development, maintenance of law and order and financial transparency during last four years and this policy will be continued in future as well.
Public funds are being utilised on the provision of basic amenities to the poor and needy people in a highly transparent manner. Opportunities of 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.
Green tractor scheme has helped in increasing per acre yield and tractors will be given to the small cultivators on reduced price under this scheme next year as well. "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. Four new universities are being established in the province for equipping women with the modern education," he added.
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 said the resources generated through curtailment of 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 ADP, the Chief Minister constituted a committee that will finalize its recommendations within next 10 days. He directed that maximum schemes should be evolved for the benefit of the poor and the common men under ADP.
Comments
Comments are closed.