Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed his gratitude to Speaker Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi for his support to run the affairs of Punjab on Friday.

PM Imran Khan made a phone call to Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi to discuss the affairs of the coalition government of Punjab as his party Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid is a coalition partner of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led government in the province.

“We are together in the journey of bringing a change in Punjab,” the prime minister said during his conversation with the Punjab Assembly speaker. Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi assured his full support to the PM, saying that he will get more good news from the province and Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar is also doing good work.

“This country will flourish under your sincere leadership and you will get more achievements in your upcoming visits to China and Malaysia after the successful visit of Saudi Arabia,” Pervaiz Elahi said while to talking to the PM.

Meanwhile, talking to senior journalists and members of Punjab Assembly Press Gallery Committee, Elahi said that former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif suffered setbacks through every project including the Sahiwal Coal, Nandipur Power Plant, Orange Line Train and Metro Bus during his tenure. Former Punjab CM Shehbaz Sharif also ruined the agriculture sector which is the backbone of our economy and destroyed a huge piece of agriculture land by initiating the Sahiwal Coal Project as there was no logic to establish a coal plant in Sahiwal.

“I have very old relationship with journalists and Press Gallery and have always worked for the welfare of the journalist community,” he said, adding that he wants to initiate the second phase of Journalists Colony to provide accommodations to them.

“I’ll also talk to the CM in this regard. The financial kitty of the province was empty when I became CM in 2002 and Punjab was in surplus of Rs 100 billion when I left the office but Sharifs left this province with a deficit of Rs 700 billion,” he added.

Information & Culture Provincial Minister Fayyazul Hassan Chohan said on the occasion that the Punjab government is planning to introduce health cards for journalists and he has also talked to Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid in this regard.

“I have two constituencies; the one in Rawalpindi is from where I got elected and my second constituency is my journalists community,” he said.

Punjab Assembly Press Gallery Committee President Khawaja Naseer and secretary Muhammad Ali Iqbal were also present on the occasion.

Published in Daily Times, October 27^th 2018.