Daily Times

The Punjab government has decided to establish Sahulat centers in every tehsil to provide quality pesticides to farmers at a controlled rate.

Chief Secretary Punjab Zahid Akhtar Zaman presided over a video link meeting of all divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners to review cotton cultivation targets, measles situation and Suthra Punjab programme, at the Civil Secretariat on Monday.

The chief secretary directed the commissioners of Bahawalpur, Multan and DG Khan to ensure full monitoring of the cotton crop. He said that the deputy commissioners must keep a close watch on the prices, supply and demand of urea fertilizer for the next two months and obtain the data of stocks and sales from fertilizer dealers on a daily basis.

The chief secretary mentioned that the improvement of health and education sectors was a priority of the government, adding that on the instructions of the chief minister Punjab, the health sector had been included in the key performance indicators (KPIs) set for the deputy commissioners. He ordered the authorities to launch a crackdown before Eid against illegal sale points of cattle and form special squads for checking.

The administrative secretaries of the agriculture and health department gave a detailed briefing in the meeting.

The agriculture secretary said that the target of cotton sowing had been set at four million acres in the province, while the crop had been cultivated on 3.2 million acres so far. The health secretary said that the department had issued instructions to all districts to prevent measles. He said that 3,210 confirmed cases of measles and 22 deaths had been reported in the province this year. He said that 309 measles patients were being treated in hospitals at present. He mentioned that 19 medical camps had been established and clinic-on-wheels had been mobilized in the measles-outbreak areas.

The secretary local government, all commissioners and deputy commissioners participated in the meeting through video link.