LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) should provide its technical assistance to Pakisan, instead of any financial aid, adding that public welfare projects will be completed from indigenous resources by the Punjab government.
The chief minister made these remarks during a meeting with a high-level delegation of UNICEF here on Monday.
At the outset, the chief minister appreciated the cooperation rendered by the UNICEF for mother and child health schemes, basic education programme and other sectors and added that sufficient results had been achieved by the Punjab government in its anti-polio campaigns and drive for overcoming ratio of newborn deaths.
He said that an organised programme of consummate cleanliness in villages, across the province, had been started for the first time in the history of the country. He said that thousands of tonnes of solid waste had been removed through Saaf Dehat Programme and success of this programme had been ensured through third-party monitoring. He said that establishment of filter clinics, in remote hinterlands, would not only benefit the people but the correct and timely utilisation of government funds would also be ensured.
“Due to the efforts of Punjab government, a new culture of public service delivery has been introduced at the government hospitals and people are preferring public sector hospitals for treatment now.” He said that ambulance programme was going on successfully for transfer of patients from villages to hospitals. Meanwhile, provision of higher education had been ensured for bright but deserving students through PEEF and the government had also provided 40 thousand tablets to the schools for bringing improvements in their standard of education.
The meeting was told that UNICEF was providing training to the staff of more than 4,000 union councils in the province and 34 water filtration plants were being established initially for provision of clean drinking water. Similarly, provision of clean drinking water to the people was being ensured through chlorination project in all the water supply schemes of the province.
UNICEF Regional Director Jean Gough reiterated the proposal of providing technical assistance to Punjab for clean drinking water, sanitation, health, education and other projects. She said that Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif was a visionary leader and due to his leadership abilities; Punjab had a remarkable lead over other provinces in education, healthcare and other social sectors.
UNICEF Country Director Aida Girma-Melakuis, Chief Field Officer UNICEF Punjab Douglas G Higgins, health specialist Dr Tahir Manzoor, additional chief secretary (C&W), housing secretary and others were also present.
Separately, a high-level delegation of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) called on Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday.
During the meeting, various ongoing development projects launched in collaboration with the bank in Punjab were reviewed. On the occasion, various issues pertaining to water waste management, Rawalpindi Ring Road Project and Surface Water Project also came under discussion.
Principal Investment Operation Specialist Dr Shakeel Khan gave a briefing about development projects.
Published in Daily Times, February 27th 2018.