Amraiz Khan
Punjab government has decided to start a loan program on soft conditions for promoting cottage industries in the province. Rs.300 million has been allocated for the purpose. A loan worth Rs.3 lac will be given along-with the return period of three years and three months grace period. In this regard a meeting briefed Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar at his office here on Tuesday.
Addressing the meeting, the chief minister said that soft loans programmes will help to promote the industrial sector, and especially the industries facing paucity of resources, will be especially benefited by it. Meanwhile, the youth will learn new skills to get job opportunities. Similarly, loans scheme worth Rs.6 billion will be started for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Under this scheme, loan amount up to Rs.30 lac will be given with a grace period of six months. Under the loan markup support programme, the existing SMEs will also get loans on soft terms and Rs.3 billion will be allocated for this scheme. The chief minister directed that the loans disbursement process should be transparent as well as speedy and the department should submit its final report along with timelines. Industries Minister Mian Aslam Iqbal, administrative secretaries, MD PSIC and others attended the meeting.
Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has ordered an inquiry into the incident wherein police officials were martyred during an operation in DG Khan and Rajanpur and Addl. IG (Internal Accountability Branch) Azhar Hameed Khokhar has been directed to investigate and submit a report within three days.
In the meanwhile CM in his message on World Kindness Day said that the purpose of celebrating world kindness day is to sensitize the people about the importance of public welfare in the society. In his message, the chief minister said that love for the ailing humanity; expression of the emotions of compassion and good gestures are some of the moral values and also the basic injunction of the religion of Islam.
It is also an effective mean of promoting brotherhood in the society, he added and further said that the PTI government has taken a number of steps to promote compassion in the society. Start of shelter-homes and almonries are a part of this objective, he added. Today, we should pay tributes to all those people who prefer others over themselves and we should also make a commitment that we will show benevolence towards others, concluded the chief minister.
