LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that printing of the map of Saraikistan and Hazara province in the textbook of geography of 8th class is regrettable and tantamount to a heinous crime.
“The government will conduct a judicial inquiry into the matter and a letter will be written to the Lahore High Court chief justice for this purpose,” the CM said while addressing a high level meeting here on Sunday.
Various aspects regarding printing of wrong map in geography book of 8th class were considered in detail.
The chief minister said that the incident of printing of the map of Saraikistan and Hazara province in the textbook of geography of 8th class of Textbook Board was deplorable. He said that had there been an effective system of checks and balances in the concerned department, wrong map could not have been printed and this serious mistake would have been avoided.
He said that the concerned department did not fulfill its responsibilities properly due to which the printing mistake occurred. The chief minister said that after identifying this mistake, the concerned department and authorities should have taken action immediately but this did not happen. He said that when this matter came into the notice of senior authorities, action on war footing should have been taken as it was not an ordinary incident.
The chief minister said that Chief Minister’s Inspection Team would also submit its report regarding the incident separately and the elements involved in this heinous crime will not escape from punishment under the law. He said that it was lamentable that there was no mechanism of checking the mistakes at any level.
He stressed the need for evolving an effective system of checking and monitoring in future. The chief minister directed that books containing wrong map should be withdrawn and Commissioners and DCOs should take action on war footing in this regard. The books having correct map should be supplied immediately, he ordered. Provincial Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmad, Chief Secretary, Secretary Law, Secretary Schools Education, Chairman Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board and MD Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board attended the meeting.
Addl 300MW solar power by year end: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif Sunday said that Chinese company started work on solar project in Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park Bahawalpur under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and solar project of 300 megawatt would start producing electricity by this year end.
Chairing meeting to review progress on transport, infrastructure and energy projects in the province here, he said the PML-N government is taking speedy measures for resolving energy crisis and besides traditional methods, alternative methods are also being given due attention for overcoming energy crisis.
The Chief Minister said that in addition to energy projects, government is also paying special attention towards improvement of transport and infrastructure.
Metro bus projects have introduced a new culture in transport sector and after the splendid success of Lahore metro bus project, Pakistan Metro Bus Service in twin cities (Rawalpindi-Islamabad) also proved very successful and about 150,000 citizens were daily benefiting from economical, modern, speedy and comfortable travelling facility through Pakistan Metro Bus Service.
Shahbaz Sharif said, Punjab government also started work on metro bus project in Multan and this project would also be a masterpiece of standard and transparency like metro bus projects of Lahore and Rawalpindi. Orange Line Metro Train project has been evolved in Lahore that would be a revolutionary project in transport sector, he said and added that economical, speedy and modern travelling facility will become available to citizen through this modern project and metro train project would prove to be a milestone in the history of the country.
He said, the Punjab government through successful negotiations with companies in different projects had saved national resources of billions of rupees.
Provincial Ministers Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman, Rana Mashhood Ahmad and Tanvir Aslam Malik, MNAs Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, Perviaz Malik, Rohail Asghar and Mehr Ishtiaq Ahmad, Lahore Transport Company Chairman Khawaja Ahmad Hasaan, MPAs, Chief Secretary and attended the meeting.