Multan
The District Coordination Committee approved a number of new development schemes worth billions and issued directives for completion of ongoing 186 schemes within current financial year.
The committee convened with its Chairman Rana Tahir Bashir in the chair to review the pace of work on development schemes on Friday. The committee also decided to appoint special monitoring officers to do audit before making payments against ongoing development schemes.
Speaking on the occasion, DCO Zahid Saleem Gondal said that 64 schemes of roads, which cost Rs248 million, were underway in the district. He added that 13 schemes of local governments were near completion while the up-gradation of 109 dangerous school buildings would soon be launched at an estimated cost of Rs254 million. He said that the development process halted due to local government elections but the work had been resumed.
He told the committee that the land acquisition had begun at Shujabad Expressway after elimination of encroachments while the work on Shujabad Public School and Stadium was in final stages. He added that work on Basti Malook and Manzoorabad Degree Colleges was underway while the Multan Gymnasium and Jalalpur Pirwala Sports ground would be handed over to the district government after their completion in current month. He told the committee that the Children Complex extension project would also be completed in first week of January and it would be handed over to the health department.
Meanwhile, DCO Zahid Saleem Gondal has said that the health department will be extended all-out support for launching a successful polio vaccination drive, adding that order had been issued for action against the heads of those families which refused to get their children administered polio drops.
Addressing a meeting held to review arrangements for upcoming round of national polio vaccination drive starting from January 11 here on Friday, the DCO regretted that Pakistan one of the three countries where polio could not be eradicated. He said that just one case was reported from Punjab last year while Multan was polio free for the last four years. He further pointed out that the environmental samples taken by WHO from Sooraj Miani, Ali Town and Kotla Abul Fatah were clear. “We need to work hard to uphold polio free status of Multan,” he asserted. He said that it was responsibility of parents to get their children vaccinated so no child could fall prey to this crippling disease.
He directed the heads of all district departments to extend full support to the polio vaccination teams and health department for making the campaign a complete success.