LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that provision of clean drinking water to the citizens is essential for setting up a healthy society and added that government is implementing a mega project in this regard.
He was presiding over a meeting to review the pace of clean drinking water project yesterday. The meeting took a number of important decisions for the speedy implementation of the project.
The chief minister directed that potable water project be accelerated and warned that no negligence would be tolerated in the implementation of this public welfare project.
The chief minister said the government would ensure availability of clean drinking water to every citizen within a few years. He said that people could be saved from different diseases through supply of safe drinking water.
Shehbaz Sharif said that Pakistan is a poor country and it is the responsibility of the government to adopt austerity and evolve the best projects. He said that resources are a trust of the nation and transparent utilization of every penny of public money is being ensured.
He said that modern technology should be utilised for the development of the country and with the assistance of consultants such a technology should be used for ensuring uninterrupted supply of drinking water to the masses under Saaf Pani Project.
The chief minister also issued instructions for setting up a high-level committee to submit its recommendations within next few days for speedy implementation of Saaf Pani Project. Provincial Minister for Housing Tanvir Aslam Malik, Members Provincial Assembly, Chief Secretary, concerned secretaries and senior officials attended the meeting from Civil Secretariat through video link.
Meanwhile, Shehbaz Sharif presided over a high level meeting and review in detail the process of procurement, supply and distribution of medicines to the patients in government hospitals as well as rural and basic health centers.
Addressing the meeting, the chief minister laid stress on the transparency in the purchase, distribution and supply of free of cost medicines to the patients in government hospitals. He said that patients should not have to face any difficulty in acquiring these medicines for which the government was spending billions of rupees every year.
He said that failure in placing timely orders for the procurement of medicines is a negligence and intolerable act. “The entire system in this respect must be standardized,” the CM directed the authorities concerned.