Chief Minister Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has said that a five-marla scheme would be started soon for the poor in the rural areas. He said there were hundreds of thousands of people in the province who did not have land for the construction of even one room and the scheme was being initiated for their benefit.

Presiding over a meeting regarding the Jinnah Abadi Scheme here on Tuesday, Mr Shahbaz said that under the scheme, free five-marla plots would be distributed among the poor of the rural areas. He said a house was the basic necessity of every person and the government was fully aware of the problems of the shelterless people. He said decision to launch five-marla scheme in rural areas had been taken to mitigate the problems of the masses. He said in addition to state land, private land would also be purchased, if needed, to provide free plots to the shelterless people in the rural areas. The CM directed the officials concerned that the process of identification of land for the scheme in rural areas should be completed as early as possible while a comprehensive plan should be submitted to him after considering all aspects of the scheme.

He said the scheme would be implemented in a highly transparent manner and allotment committees would be constituted at the tehsil level in this regard. He said committees would also be formed at the district level for the monitoring of the scheme and elected representatives would also be inducted in the committees. CM reviews sugar supply, price: A meeting was held on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat to review the supply and price of sugar. The meeting reviewed the demand and supply situation of sugar in the province in detail. The CM issued directions that a watchful eye should be kept on the supply and price of sugar and secretaries of the departments concerned should hold meetings twice a week in this regard.

Minister for Food Malik Nadeem Kamran and the Food secretary briefed the meeting in detail regarding sugar crop 2009-10, stock position of sugar mills and other related matters. The chief secretary, secretaries of Food, Agriculture, Industries and Finance departments as well as other officers concerned were present.

Govt focuses backward areas : Parliamentarians from various districts called on Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat on Tuesday and apprised him of the pace of development projects in their areas.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Shahbaz said the government had adopted a strategy to enable the poor avail the progress and development. He said under this strategy, attention was being paid to the development of far-flung areas and uplift schemes were being completed there on a priority basis. He said the assembly members should play their role for timely completion of development projects and maintenance of quality of work.

Those who met the chief minister included Saba Sadiq, Rehana Hadees, Hafiz Nauman, Asif Saeed and Ch Nadeem Khadim. CM briefed on security equipment: Shahbaz Sharif was given a briefing by representatives of various foreign companies regarding security equipment and the use of modern technology for this purpose at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat here on Tuesday.

The representatives of the 3D X-Ray Limited, UK, and Cieffe Benelux apprised the chief minister of the benefits of modern security equipment, including cameras, scanners and vehicle scanners, saying that the equipments would greatly help eradicate crime and maintain law and order.

The chief minister directed the inspector general police, Punjab, and the Home secretary to review the utility of the security equipment in accordance with their needs and the prevalent situation. He asked them to hold a meeting with the representatives of the companies and formulate their recommendations regarding purchase of equipments. He also asked the representatives of the companies to give a practical demonstration of the security equipment so that its performance could be judged. The Punjab Information Technology Board chairman, additional IG Finance and other officers concerned were present.
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