Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan is likely to restart his initiative of taking phone calls of the masses from May 11 after returning from Saudi Arabia, sources privy to this development told Daily Times.

The prime minister is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia from May 7 to May 9 where he will take up the issue of the release of Pakistani prisoners who are suffering in jails there. As per the Arab News newspaper, Imran Khan will be visiting the Arab kingdom on the invitation of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

It is pertinent to mention here that the prime minister also took phone calls from people on April 4 at 11:30am and before that on March 28 during a telethon for the Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme. According to sources privy to this development, people would be encouraged to put in their calls and speak to Imran Khan directly about the issues that they wish their prime minister must address.

“It is the practical implementation of the promise made by the prime minister to the masses in his victory speech that he would be answerable before the people,” a PTI leader said. During his previous interactions with the people during the last year, Imran Khan had focused on the coronavirus pandemic, urging the masses to realise the importance of practicing caution and wearing masks so Pakistan can successfully reduce spread of the virus.

LAHORE’S HOUSING PROJECT

Prime Minister Imran Khan will perform groundbreaking of a housing project at Raiwind in Lahore under the Punjab Peri-Urban Low-Cost Housing Scheme on Thursday. As many as five hundred and fifty-six housing units will be constructed in this project.

Simultaneously, the prime minister will also virtually witness groundbreaking of the low-cost housing projects at 10 other sites under this scheme. A total of 18 hundred low-cost housing units will be built at these locations in 10 tehsils, including Chiniot, Dera Ghazi Khan, Chunian, Khanewal, Khushab, Mandi Bahauddin, Mianwali, Jalalpur Pirwala and Sargodha.

The Punjab Peri-Urban Low-Cost Housing Scheme, being jointly executed by the Punjab government and the Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority, has been designed for the low income people living in smaller cities or towns of the province.

The authority has recommended forty-one sites in thirty-nine tehsils for construction of around 10 thousand housing units in the first phase. The federal government is providing a three hundred thousand rupees cost subsidy for each housing unit and is also arranging mortgage at three percent markup in line with the prime minister’s markup subsidy scheme.