Lahore - An 85-member delegation of 20th National Security Workshop comprising parliamentarians, senior civil and military officers and members of civil society visited 90-Shahrah Quaid-e-Azam Friday.
Representing the CM, Provincial Higher Education Minister Raja Yasir Hamayun and Chief Secretary Punjab Yousaf Naseem Khokhar welcomed the delegates.
The delegation led by Director General of Institute of Strategic Studies and Research Analysis National Defence University, Maj Gen Muhammad Samrez Salik was given briefing on development projects, education reforms and use of IT for good governance in Punjab. Raja said that providing quality education did not remain a priority of previous governments but it is now on top of agenda of the present government.
He said steps are being taken to give Urdu status of educational language at federal level and a strategy would be devised after taking into consideration all aspects.
To a question, he said that the Chief Minister is ‘centre of power’ in Punjab and all other persons and departments are assisting him. Chief Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar told the participants that previous governments did not do justice regarding distribution of resources among different areas in the province. He said there is need to focus on deprived and neglected areas of Punjab and for this purpose a comprehensive programme is being implemented.
He said that the government is taking measures to bring police reforms and improve governance and taskforces are working to achieve this target at provincial and federal levels.
In response to a query about mega projects in the province, the Chief Secretary said that due to lack of planning and haste cost of some projects has increased manifold. The cost of Orange Line Train project has reached Rs 250 billion and the train is expected to run on trial basis by June 30 next year. It is necessary that people should get benefits of such a mega project involving huge investment. Mega projects could be made successful only with proper planning, he maintained.
