CM Usman Buzdar assures parliamentary party honour of MPAs will be restored

Lahore : Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar presided over the provincial parliamentary party meeting at the cafeteria of Punjab Assembly here on Tuesday.

Addressing the meeting, the Chief Minister thanked the parliamentarians for reposing their confidence on him during the previous meeting and assured them that he will come up to their expectations. You are my lieutenants and I am your companion. I have already said that my every assembly member is the chief minister and I again reiterate this commitment that you are the chief minister and your genuine work will be done on priority basis.

He said that a gap had occurred in meeting with the assembly members due to some engagements; however, I am restarting meetings with the assembly members now. We will solve the problems of the people by visiting divisions and districts and the prestige and honour of assembly members will be restored because your respect is my respect. Government will give a priority to the advice of assembly members in all the measures, he added. He said that people of the province will be served in consultation with the elected representatives.

The Chief Minister said that local bodies system of the previous tenure was full of errors and added that a new local bodies system is being introduced to rectify the past mistakes. The people will be empowered in the new local bodies system, he added. Metropolitan corporations will be set up in every division of the province and development funds worth Rs.40 billion will be devolved to the grassroots. The Punjab Assembly members are making a new parliamentary history by approving the new local bodies system and, today, a new history is being written, he said.

He said that tehsil and panchayat councils will be established in the villages while metropolitan corporations, municipal corporations and neighbourhood councils will be set up in the cities. He said that elections of urban and tehsil councils will be held on party basis while the elections of neighbourhood councils and panchayat will be held on non-party basis.

Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat said that legal mechanism has been adopted for the new local government bill and the opinion of the opposition has been given importance. He said that new local government act is being introduced with mutual consensus.

He said that restriction of education for mayor and speaker is being removed. He said that PTI government is going to introduce a fully empowered local government system in Punjab province. He also gave a briefing about the new local government bill. Auqaf Minister Saeed-ul-Hassan Shah led the Fateha prayer for the departed soul of father of Sardar Ahmad Ali Dreshak MPA.

Meanwhile ; Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar presided over a meeting of media committee at his office here on Tuesday in which Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information Iftikhar Durrani, Information Minister Syed Samsam Ali Bukhari, spokesman to CM Dr. Shahbaz Gill, Secretary Information, DGPR and others attended the meeting.

The meeting decided to make contacts with the media more effective. The Chief Minister directed to pay the advertisement dues to the newspapers and media houses at the earliest and also issued directions to the finance department in this regard. He assured that funds will be provided on priority basis for payment of dues of newspapers and media houses adding that no delay should occur in this regard.

He said that duties should be performed in an active manner to sensitize the people about the steps of the government relating to the welfare of the people and added that information department and DGPR should project government programs in an effective manner. He said that government has worked day and night during the last eight months to provide relief to the masses and a new working culture has been introduced.

He said that new local bodies system is a public welfare initiative in which powers will be devolved to the grassroots. In the new Pakistan, there is no room for any exploitative local bodies system. Punjab will take a lead in every sector and people will be empowered, the Chief Minister concluded.