Our Correspondent
Faisalabad
Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar has said that Punjab Aab-e-Pak Authority’s (PAPA) first project will be launched in Faisalabad next week for provision of clean drinking water to citizens. He was talking to the media after inaugurating a filtration plant at the City Traffic Police headquarters, here on Sunday. He said the government honoured its commitment of providing potable water to all people without any political consideration.
To accomplish the task, the Sarwar Foundation, in collaboration with other non-governmental organisations (NGOs), launched a project of installing water filtration plants in 2013. He said that the Foundation had been providing potable water to more than two million people daily.
The governor said that the government had decided to expand its scope to backward areas of the province. During the next week, the first project of Aab-e-Pak Authority would be launched in Chak Jhumra the next week.
It would provide potable water to 16 villages of the area. He said that the previous governments spent billions of rupees on potable water schemes. But all filtration plants were closed down due to non-maintenance. He said that the Authority had chalked out a comprehensive strategy for proper maintenance of the plants.
The governor said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had introduced pro-industry policies, which were yielding positive results. The closed industrial units and powerlooms had become functional while the construction industry was also playing its role in overall growth of the country; he said adding that it would definitely resolve the issue of unemployment to a great extent.
Chaudhry Sarwar said that Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, during his visit, announced Rs 13 billion development package for Faisalabad and work on those projects had already started. To a question, he appreciated the decision of the opposition parties to take part in the bye-elections and Senate polls and said that it was a positive step for democracy. However, as regards their protest movement, he said that people had elected Prime Minister Imran Khan for a five-year term and he would definitely complete his constitutional tenure.
Regarding Senate polls through open ballot and show of hands, he said that election would be conducted as per decision of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. To another question, he said that the countrywide power outage was caused due to a technical fault, adding that in most parts of the country electricity had already been restored. Federal Parliamentary Secretary Mian Farrukh Habib, MNA Raja Riaz Ahmad, Punjab Minister Khayal Castro, MPAs Latif Nazar, Firdous Rai and police officers were also present.
