Education for all: Govt to upgrade 169 schools, DCO says

Basic amenities like drinking water and electricity will be ensured

MULTAN: Multan DCO Nadir Chattha said on Monday that 169 public schools in the district would be upgraded and new facilities and equipment would be provided at a cost of Rs131 million. He was presiding over a session of the district coordination committee at the Circuit House.

He said more than 1,000 new classrooms would be added to public schools in 2016-217. Chattha said more than 109 school buildings had been declared dangerous. The government had allocated Rs259 million for the restoration of the dilapidated buildings. “We will ensure basic facilities like bathrooms, access to safe drinking water, electricity, classrooms and boundary walls.”

Chattha said the chief minister had a vision for a prosperous south Punjab, especially Multan city. Several development schemes had been launched in south Punjab districts, he said. “The government has allocated funds to the region on the basis of population.”

He said the district government would complete the development schemes in the given time and ensure transparency throughout. He said the main objective was to raise the standards of living.

“One of the biggest hurdles to timely completion of projects is bureaucratic red tape.” The DCO said official procedures needed to be streamlined.

“The government has announced 99 development and welfare schemes costing Rs325 million.” Work on those projects is underway, he said.

Chattha said 80 per cent of work on 71 road repair projects, 13 local government and 15 public health engineering projects was complete. The cost incurred on the projects would come to Rs336 million, he said. “The government is currently working on 150 development schemes including electricity, gas, roads and local government, under the Community Development Programme. He said 138 projects were complete. The cost incurred on those projects had exceeded Rs209 million.

District Coordination Committee Chairman Malik Abdul Gaffar Dogar said all possible steps would be taken to alleviate poverty in south Punjab. “Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is personally monitoring these projects.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 2^nd, 2016.