South Punjab districts given rights: CM

Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar said the provincial government had given south Punjab districts their rights which were usurped in the past.

“A separate development budget has also been devised for the first time for the southern region.”

In a statement issued on Monday, the CM regretted that South Punjab’s funds were spent on other cities and the people of South Punjab were deceived in the name of development.

Not only south Punjab was kept backward but people were also deceived through misleading figures, he continued.

Read FM renews pledge to make South Punjab a province

In the past, the overall utilisation of development funds in South Punjab was not more than 17 per cent, but the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government allocated more than 34 per cent budget for South Punjab to ensure composite development, he maintained.

The PTI=led government had also ring-fenced South Punjab’s development budget to ensure the welfare of people of remote areas, he said.

The days of backwardness of South Punjab were over and the whole country would be made prosperous under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29^th, 2021.