Free travel for senior, differently abled citizens on OLMT

On Friday the Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi announced a concessional package for women and students on Orange Line Metro Train while elderly citizens and differently abled persons would be allowed free travelling.

It was decided in principle to revise a stage-wise fare of Orange Line Metro Train while an advisory committee was also constituted to convert Orange Line Metro Train to solar energy. The contract sourcing of LWMC was entrusted to an advisory committee.

The CM pointed out that the solar energy panels would be installed at Orange Line Metro Train stations, adding that the first electric buses pilot project would also be started in the provincial metropolis.

Earlier, President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi and Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvaiz Elahi visited Fatima Jinnah Institute of Dental Sciences at Jubilee Town on Friday. They inspected various sections to review the pace of work.

The CM directed the authorities to complete the project early and announced giving it the status of Fatima Jinnah Dental University.

While pointing out that the scheme was approved in his previous tenure in 2005, the CM regretted that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government made no significant progress. Like other public welfare schemes, this project also succumbed to political enmity.

“The project could not be functionalised after a lapse of 17 years and this resulted in increasing the construction cost,” he commented and termed it an enmity with the people.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 13^th, 2022.