CM says the project can benefit as many as 600,000 people overall. PHOTO: REUTERS
LAHORE: The Punjab government hopes to provide the youth with another opportunity to make a decent living by providing 100,000 vehicles under the proposed Orange Cab Scheme. The cabs will be made available to eligible applicants on soft loans.
Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired a meeting on Friday to review proposals to launch the scheme, along with a digital system of payments. The CM ordered the formation of a committee which would submit final proposals on both programmes in the coming days.
Addressing the meeting, Shehbaz said that Orange Cab Scheme will benefit as many as 600,000 people overall and also result in increasing job opportunities.
He pointed out that the Punjab government had already given 50,000 vehicles under the Apna Rozgar Scheme which provided unemployed youth with the chance to earn a respectable living.
He said the government had invested billions of rupees in both schemes and was sure they would prove fruitful.
Shehbaz asked for recommendations to promote small and medium enterprises. The CM ordered the review of proposals to provide tractors to small cultivators at grace rates. He said that there is a dire need of a state-of-the-art driving school and urged the administration to establish such a facility.
The CM said the Apna Rozgaar Scheme was successful and had been praised by the general public. He claimed the recovery rate of the scheme was 100%.
He said that Punjab government had promoted e-governance and a culture of transparency in the province. He said the digital payment system will end corruption, while e-cards will provide different services to customers.
“The Digital system will also provide relief to farmers and the process to get compensation in case of natural disasters will also be improved,” he added.
CM wants to see safe cities
A body functioning under the Cabinet Committee for Law and Order will review the progress of six ongoing safe city projects. Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered the formation of the said committee on Friday.
The decision was taken during a progress review meeting of six safe city projects. The three-hour long moot was presided over by the CM who ordered police and agencies to ensure comprehensive measures for the safety of the public.
He instructed the cops to ensure criminal elements are eradicated from society. Shehbaz added the Punjab Government had allocated a lot of funds to upgrade the police and its allied agencies.
Referring to the Punjab Safe Cities Projects, he said information technology would be used to make these areas more secure.
He said work was continuing at full throttle on the Lahore Safe City Project. Shehbaz revealed that the initiative for the provincial capital should be completed by June 2017 and hoped for no further delays. He urged that the remaining cities should also be completed within the stipulated time period.
Six safe cities projects were launched along the patterns of the initiative in Lahore. Those selected were Multan, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Bahawalpur, Faisalabad and Gujranwala.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 22nd, 2017.
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