A helping hand: Punjab chief minister promises houses, schools for people of NWA

Says his government has paid Rs7,000 per month to 40,000 families.

BANNU: Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif has announced his government will construct 2,000 houses, state-of-the-art hospital and schools in North Waziristan after the military operation comes to an end.

Addressing internally displaced persons at a camp in Bannu, the prime minister’s brother said the displaced people have not been abandoned and that the whole nation stands by them in this difficult time.

“We will ensure respectable repatriation of displaced people of North Waziristan at the end of the operation. A hospital at the cost of Rs1 billion will also be constructed while the net of the Daanish School System will spread in the agency,” said Shahbaz Sharif of the project his government in Punjab launched in 2011 to educate the poor.

He added they have paid Rs7,000 per month to displaced families for which Rs280 million has so far been distributed among 40,000 families. A total of Rs350 million will be released for distribution among 54,000 families.

Appreciating the role of the Pakistan Army, Shahbaz said Operation Zarb-e-Azb is meant to eliminate all types of terrorists and ensure durable peace.

The Punjab chief minister was flanked by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Sardar Mehtab Abbasi, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Pervez Rashid and Punjab Law Minister Rana Mashud Ahmad. Chief Minister Shahbaz also distributed gifts among children of displaced families and spent some time with them.

On the occasion, Governor Mehtab Khan Abbasi said all available resources of the province and federal government have been utilised to facilitate the IDPs.

The governor said families facing problems registering themselves will be facilitated and a special cell has been set up for the purpose.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 1^st, 2014.