Revenue collection: ‘Less than half the target achieved’

Faisalabad commissioner says strategy in place to meet objective.

FAISALABAD:

As much as Rs1.41 billion has been recovered by Revenue Department from Faisalabad division during the year, Commissioner Tahir Hussain told a meeting on Wednesday.

He said a strategy had been evolved to meet the recovery target for the year which was set at Rs3.9 billion.

The commissioner told the meeting that 8116 acres of state land was recovered from illegal occupatants. The value of this land was about Rs25.20 billion, he added.

He said as many as 35 development projects were underway in Faisalabad at a cost of Rs2.29 billion under a large city package.

In addition to these, he said, various public schools were being upgraded and clean water facilities installed in their areas with Rs1 billion grant announced for MNAs and MPAs.

He also briefed the meeting about the distribution of yellow cabs among successful applicants under an employment scheme and laptops among students selected on merit and measures taken by divisional and district administrations to combat dengue virus.

Chief Secretary Punjab Nasir Mehmud Khosa directed officials to ensure that all funds released for development projects were utilised.

He said monitoring of these projects should be up to the mark and asked officials to approach the Planning and Development Department without any delay if they needed additional funds for any project.

He said all leases should be processed by March end and directed that those with violation of terms and conditions should immediately be withdrawn.

Khosa said high dependency units set up at public hospitals for dengue fever patients should be equipped with required medicines and machinery for effective and timely treatment of patients.

He praised the development plan for Faisalabad city and sought its replication in other districts of the division.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 9^th, 2012.