‘Every penny spent as sacred public property’

CM says maintenance of vehicles has been reduced to half

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Sardar Usman Buzdar has said that the provincial government is acting on the policy of austerity, saving and transparency. “We are spending every penny as sacred property of the public.”

In a statement issued on Sunday, he added that the use of national resources for personal gains is against public interest and the incumbent government has set a trend of spending public money on public welfare. “Previous rulers have spent national resources ruthlessly for their personal interests.”

He further said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government has made history by starting the campaign of austerity and is saving from the chief minister office by cutting down its expenses.

“The CM’s office has curtailed almost 60% in their expenses in the fiscal year 2018-19 as compared to that of the fiscal year 2017-18. Gifts and hospitality expenses of the CM has been reduced to Rs30m from the previous amount of Rs110m.”

The CM said that maintenance of vehicles has been reduced to half of its previous expenses of Rs40m.

He added that in previous tenures around 2,000 security personnel were deployed for security of the former CM at his residence and also at his relatives’ residences which have now been downsized. “Our tenure has reduced security expenses by 66% which is down to Rs280m from the previous Rs830m.”

He maintained that the former chief minister had established various camp offices in the province which were utilizing national resources but he did not set up a camp office or residence in the provincial capital.

“We have changed the trend of renovation of personal residences and new construction in the name of security.”

He further said that the previous government had spent Rs280m for renovation of walls in their personal residences in the name of security and that there is no room for such practices under the PTI government. “We are determined to spend public money only on public welfare.”

Separately, the CM passed on directions to Punjab Inspector General Police (IGP) Captain (retd) Arif Nawaz Khan for the deployment of Dolphin Force in Murree on Sunday for patrolling the streets in order to ensure safety of citizens and tourists.

The force is expected to take prompt action against criminals and will also perform duty to minimize street crimes.

The chief minister said that deployment of Dolphin Force will bring a sense of security to tourists and citizens. He assured that they will provide maximum facilities to tourists.

Furthermore, the CM has taken notice of complaints of overcharging and substandard eateries and directed the administration to respond to public complaints swiftly and overcome their grievances by taking stern action against such elements.

He directed to launch an operation against these elements without any discrimination.

“There will be action against the accused if any complaint regarding overcharging is received from now onwards.”