Sindh Minister for Rural Development Zubair Ahmed Khan has said that Rs 500 million are being allocated for rural development in coming budget of the province. This he said in a meeting with Additional Chief Secretary Development Nazar Hussain Mahar at his office on Friday.
He said that Sindh government wants to provide all basic amenities to people of rural areas of Sindh besides bringing changes in living standard at village level. The minister said that soaring prices of wheat, rice, oil and energy have increased the woes of lower and middle classes, while income per capita is on decline and local economy is almost ruined. He said that improving living standard of poor and eradicating unemployment is responsibility of the government.
He stressed the need to pay more attention to agriculture sector in supporting economy as 600 million people of the world living in rural areas depend for their livelihood on agriculture. Zubair Ahmed vowed that a mega rural development project would be initiated in collaboration with Asian Development Bank in the province.
He called to follow Indian and Bangladeshi models for rural development in Pakistan, particularly in Sindh. He said that a comprehensive strategy is being chalked out for rural development as per aspirations of the masses. He disclosed that Hallmark, Metro and Macro like super departmental stores would be set up at villages of Sindh to facilitate villagers.