Minister inaugurates underpass project
Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar inaugurated construction work on Golra Morr underpass remodeling and improvement project on main GT Road on Friday.
Speaking on the occasion, Umar said from January next year, every citizen of Islamabad would get the Sehat Insaaf Card under which they could avail medical treatments worth Rs1 million in one year.
He said inflation was not an issue of Pakistan alone but it was a problem all over the world. However, he said in order to minimise the pressure of inflation of the poor segment of the society, the government had introduced a ration card under which the people would be able to get necessary daily use items at subsidised rates.
The minister said that the ration card would become functional in 15 days.
With respect to opposition activities, he said that the opposition had put Maulana Fazlur Rehman in a driving seat but moved away leaving him alone.
Umar said the opposition was announcing dates of long marches again and again but could not succeed.
Meanwhile, General Secretary Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI) MNA Aamir Mehmood Kiani, who also attended the event, said that due to Umar's personal efforts, Islamabad was becoming a signal-free area as a number of road projects on different points of the city were under construction. He said with the completion of this project, the traffic pressure would ease considerably.
Kiani said 700,000 retailer stores (kiryaa stores) would be registered under the ration card project for which the government had allocated Rs120 billion. He said the people would be able to get daily use essential items from the registered stores at 30% less rates.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 4th, 2021.