Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar has said that solving the economic difficulties of the common man is the priority of the government and a relief-providing budget will be presented despite difficult circumstances. Unnecessary expenditures will be decreased, he said.
The CM was talking to Law Minister Basharat Raja at his office on Friday. They discussed matters relating to budget session of the Punjab Assembly. Both also discussed safety measures for saving the MPAs from coronavirus during the session. The CM directed that precautionary measures should be efficiently implemented as the budget session is being held in a local hotel, instead of the Punjab Assembly, to ensure the safety of the members.
The coronavirus pandemic has affected every segment of the society, he added. The CM said that measures will be proposed to protect the poor segments in the upcoming budget and added that a comprehensive strategy has been devised for providing relief to the common man. Every segment will be taken care of in the next budget, he further said. Receipt of governmental taxes has been decreased due to coronavirus.
The CM maintained that record legislation has been made by the Punjab government during the last two years to facilitate the citizens and Punjab Assembly’s legislation record is much better than other provincial assemblies. Every moment is being spent on public welfare as it is the main agenda of the government, he added. He regretted that the past rulers only protected their personal interests.
Usman Buzdar said the PTI-led government is creating ease in the lives of every stratum and vowed the mission of public service will be completed. People want practical steps, instead of slogans, and opposition has no public welfare agenda nor any strategy to deal with coronavirus.
Instead of personal liking or disliking, Punjab is following the principles of merit and good governance and the government is moving forward in the right direction, he said. On the other side, the opposition is engaged in politics on non-issues. The government will accelerate the journey of public service without caring for criticism for the sake of criticism, the CM concluded.
CM Usman Buzdar also chaired a meeting at his office on Friday to review the coronavirus situation. The meeting decided to take steps for stopping the increasing cases of coronavirus in Lahore. It decided to send recommendations to the Centre to further strict the restriction of SOPs. A separate strategy will be implemented in Lahore after the approval of the federal government.
The meeting was told that the situation is critical in Lahore due to non-compliance of SOPs by the people. More than half of the coronavirus cases in Punjab are from Lahore and violations of SOPS are being witnessed in markets and commercial areas. The meeting noted the cases are increasing due to the non-compliance of the policy of social distancing, use of face masks and other precautionary measures and required public cooperation was not being provided in Lahore for ensuring compliance of SOPs.
Therefore, the increased number of coronavirus patients has become a tocsin. The meeting was further told that NDMA will set up 300 HDU-beds hospital in Punjab and the Punjab government will provide 300 DHU-beds in different hospitals of numerous cities in the province.
The CM directed that there should be no dearth of injections required for coronavirus patients in Punjab. He informed that around 700 injections will be provided to the government hospitals within one week and its distribution will be made according to the number of patients.
Senior Minister Abdul Aleem Khan, Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid, Chief Secretary, ACS (Home), IG Police, health secretaries and others attended the meeting.
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