Daily Times

Punjab Minister for Local Government & Community Development (LGCD) Mian Mahmood-ul-Rashid on Saturday laid the foundation stone of development projects worth Rs 2.70 billion under the Punjab Cities Programme (PCP) in Kamoki. Talking to the media, the provincial minister said that those projects included water supply, sewage, roads, streetlights, renovation of parks and solid waste management. Mian Mahmood-ul-Rashid said that the LGCD had received the support of the World Bank for the Punjab Cities Program which had been started in 16 tehsils of Punjab.

He said that new machinery including tractors, trolleys, dumpers, waste collection vehicles and cranes etc had been provided for the cleaning of Kamoki city at a cost of Rs 350 million. The provincial minister said the PCP had been started on the special instructions of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan and Chief Minister Punjab Chaudhry Parvaiz Elahi.

He said that in order to overcome the shortage of staff, the process of transparent recruitment of 22,000 vacant posts of local bodies would start by next week, for which the summary had been sent to the Chief Minister for approval. To a question, Mian Mahmood-ul Rashid said that the newly introduced local government system was in accordance with the Article 140A of the constitution that would empower the local government representatives in true spirit.

He said that under the new LG system, according to the vision of Imran Khan, every citizen would get basic facilities at his doorstep.

He said that the two-tier local government system would ensure to end the overlapping and corruption of the past in development projects in which the same road was being built by four separate local bodies and funds were being wasted. He said the PCP was suffering from slowness earlier, but since Muhammad Ashraf Sohna became its coordinator, it had started to be implemented rapidly. The LG Minister said that such development projects would be started across Punjab in the coming days. The provincial minister, while ordering an inquiry into the alleged corruption pointed out by media in the newly constructed sewer drain in Kamoki worth Rs 140 million, assured that strict action would be taken against those found responsible in that case.