LAHORE  -  Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Sunday presided over a meeting at the chief minister's office to review the development programme for underdeveloped areas of southern Punjab and discuss development projects for the area in the current fiscal year.

Addressing the meeting, the chief minister said the government would work with a holistic strategy to provide basic facilities to people of remote areas as it is their right to have access to education, health, infrastructure and clean drinking water. He said the PTI government would ensure that people of less developed areas get access to these facilities. He said that ongoing development schemes would be completed on priority and negligence would not be tolerated. He said that strict action would be taken against those found responsible for any delay or negligence.

The chief minister directed that development projects be completed on time. He said that maximum relief would be provided to people in the upcoming budget despite limited resources and welfare of the common man was top priority of the government. He said the upcoming budget would not be based on figure fudging, rather it would reflect the government's development work within resources. He said that development of underdeveloped areas would be a key part of the coming budget and all possible steps would be taken to bring improvement in water, health, education and other social sectors.

The chief minister said that policies given in the budget would have a trickle-down effect and wrong policies of the previous government would be rectified. He said the first budget of the PTI government would reflect real change and it would not set unrealistic targets like the previous governments. He said that targets would be achieved by the end of the fiscal year. He said that past rulers added to plight of people of remote areas by setting unrealistic development targets. He said that PTI government's budget focused on common man and it would work for people. He said the budget would reflect manifesto of the PTI. He said that more focus would be on provision of basic facilities to people of the province. He said that practical steps, not slogans, would be visible in the coming budget. He said that prosperity and development of the people of south Punjab is part of PTI manifesto and the coming budget would bring welfare for the people of south Punjab. He said that people would be provided relief by staying in own resources and steps would be taken to curtail unnecessary expenses. The secretaries of concerned departments and other high ups attended the meeting.

Also, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar said that impact of natural disasters could be reduced by taking pre-emptive measures and state of the art technology needs to be used to reduce the damages and impact of natural calamities. In his message on International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction, the chief minister said that the concerned departments should be imparted modern training and it is need of the hour to make disaster management authorities more robust and vibrant to cope with the damages of natural disasters. He said that it is very important to raise awareness among the youth about natural disasters and steps would be taken to equip people to cope with natural disasters. He said that it is key responsibility of the PTI government to save people from natural disasters. He said that educational institutions should promote research on disaster management. He said that the purpose of celebrating this day is to aware people about the pre-emptive measures and steps that need to be taken to cope with natural disasters.

Also, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has condemned the attack on the office of 24 News and Rohi TV and torture of bureau chief of Rohi TV. The chief minister has ordered inquiry of the incident and sought report from RPO Bahawalpur. He directed that action against perpetrators be taken as per law. He said that the PTI government believes in freedom of media and this gruesome act is an attack on media freedom.