Provision of modern facilities such as natural gas, electricity and roads at village level in NA-111 had been made possible by hectic efforts made by federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, people from various walks of life agreed here on Sunday.
A number of people, who talked to this correspondent on the issue, said that the minister had banished backwardness from villages and worked hard to provide basic facilities to people in NA-111. They added that the area had been politically ignored for the past 63 years.
Attributing record development projects to the efforts of the minister, they said that projects costing billions of rupees had been completed during the past four years in NA-111. These projects, they said, included the provision of gas, electricity, construction of link roads and pavement of streets and drains.
They said that so far 197 villages had been provided gas while gas pipelines had also been laid in 74 villages. Gas pipelines would soon be laid in more than 100 villages.
Talking to this correspondent, former lady councillors Salma Bibi and Kaniz Bibi agreed that the minister had also worked hard to lessen difficulties encountered by women working in factories and girls studying in various institutions, adding that six buses were now plying between NA-111 and Sialkot.