LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Friday said that a comprehensive strategy should be adopted to promote literary and cultural activities in the province and added that local artistes should be especially encouraged.

"The promotion of cultural and literary activities is very important in today's tense environment and information and culture department should present a suitable strategy in this regard," he added.

He issued these directions while reviewing the steps taken with regard to promotion of literary activities.

The chief minister said that Punjab was very rich in the fields of art, history and culture and it has produced famous people in different fields. He urged the need to highlight artistic abilities of local artists. He said that  different programmes should be arranged at the level of division, district and tehsil in which local artists and writers should invited. "This step will help people to become aware of local traditions," he added.

He directed the secretary information & culture that plan should be presented soon for promoting cultural and literary activities in the province. Secretary Information Bilal Butt informed the meeting that the department was already working for promotion of art and culture and different programmes had been given final shape in this regard.

Separately talking to different delegations, he said  that Kaptaan (Captain) would bring about change in the country. He listened to problems of people and issued on-the-spot instructions for their solution.

Talking to them, the chief minister said that Pakistan's present-day situation was because of past governments and the nation was facing the consequences of their wrong policies.

He regretted that national resources were mercilessly wasted during the last 10 years and the past governments devastated the national economy along with ruining the state institutions.

Pakistan was put into a quagmire of heavy loans, he regretted. He said the cruel game played with the national economy during the previous 10 years was unforgivable.

Usman Buzdar said that the current challenges had to be overcome with collective efforts. The nation fully trusts Prime Minister Imran Khan because he speaks truth and shows a true picture to the people, he added. The difficult situation was only a temporary time period, he added.

Good times are round the corner and the PTI government would change the destiny of the nation, he assured.

The country would get rid of the present-day crises and would soon come out of the difficult situation with the support of the people, the chief minister concluded.

CM urges latest technologies to avert disasters

Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar Friday said that damages resulting from natural calamities and unforeseen incidents could be minimised by adopting precautionary measures and through a disaster-resilient approach.

In his message on the International Day for Disaster Reduction, the chief minister said that the use of latest technologies and equipment was need of the hour to overcome damages resulting from natural disasters. In this regard, he said that specialised training was also imperative to deal with such eventualities. "It is imperative to create awareness among the public about disasters so that they could be saved during such situations," he added.

The CM said, "Protection of life and property of the people from natural calamities is an important government agenda and the Punjab government is following a composite policy in this regard."

Buzdar said that the Punjab Disaster Management Authority was being modernised to deal with any calamity in the province.