Daily Times

Punjab Chief Minister, Sardar Usman Buzdar, on Friday, decided to make a direct liaison with the citizens; setting up the latest IT system in his office for this purpose.

He would directly contact the citizens in different offices and Khidmat Centers through a video link. Citizens would be able to directly talk to CM Buzdar to express their opinion about the concern departments.

The chief minister would take direct feedback about various services being provided in the government offices.

Direct contact with citizens through modern IT system would greatly help improve good governance and public delivery system, he added.

CM Buzdar would personally select the spot and time to contact with the citizens while making direct contact with citizens through a video link in the offices of Regional Transport and Director Development of Dera Ghazi Khan (DG Khan).

He also contacted citizens at Khidmat Centre at Arfa Kareem Technology Park.

CM Buzdar listened to the problems of people in these offices and issued directions for the redressal of their grievances.

It was a pleasant experience for the people of DG Khan when the Chief Minister directly addressed them, “I am Usman Buzdar speaking.”

The citizens lauded his initiative for his direct liaison with them and remarked it was of great pleasure for them when the chief minister directly contacted them covering the distance of hundreds of miles.

The CM said he was the people’s representative and was utilising modern technology for direct liaison as it greatly helped save resources and time.

He said he would continue making contact with the people of other districts of the province.

Buzdar expressed his determination to not let anything create hurdle between him and the people as the provision of facilities to the people of the province is his mission.

He was also called on by the Auditor General of Pakistan, Javed Jahangir, at his office, here, on Friday, and appraised him about the performance of the department.

CM Buzdar spoke on the occasion and asserted that auditor general’s office was very important to ensure the correct utilisation of national resources. “We are the trustee of national resources,” he maintained.

Buzdar said the right utilisation of national resources remained the agenda of the PTI government. He said the present government was spending hard-earned money of the people as a sacred trust. Corruption, mismanagement, and irregularities were said to be checked through a regular audit in government institutions.

A special audit would be conducted in some institutions and departments of Punjab. The chief minister added a transparent utilisation of the government resources would be ensured at every level while a new example would be set by spending people’s money on them.

He said that indiscriminate accountability was our agenda while those who looted national resources would be held accountably for each penny. The performance audit of departments by Auditor General of Pakistan was said to be a laudable step.

CM Buzdar said a regular audit would be ensured while Jahangir said that AG Pakistan would fully cooperate with Punjab government to make an effective internal audit system.

Support would also be provided to increase the capability of DDOs.

Additional AG Punjab, Zia-ur-Rehman; Deputy Auditor General (Central), Mrs Tanvir Hamid; Additional Chief Secretary (Home), Principal Secretary to CM and others were also present on the occasion.

In a similar development, CM Buzdar also met members of 9th National Finance Commission, led by Finance Minister Asad Umar at Civil Secretariat on Friday.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance Minister Taimur Khan Jhagra; Punjab Finance Minister, Hashim Javan Bakhat; and members of Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh assemblies, including Salman Shah, Mehfooz Ali Khan and Asad Saeed were also present on the occasion.

CM welcomed the members to Punjab and hailed the meeting of the working group for the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award as a good omen. The progress on the NFC award would promote national solidarity and inter-provincial harmony.

The chief minister also hosted a single-dish luncheon in honour of members of 9th National Finance Commission.

Regarding Earth Hour, Chief Minister Buzdar gave a message on the occasion and noted that loving the earth and protecting the earth-crust was the responsibility of all.

He said we would have to play our due role, individually and collectively, for protecting earth from environmental pollution. An increase in unnatural ways was said to have caused extraordinary weather changes.