KARACHI: Village improvement to usher in era of prosperity: CM
KARACHI, April 22: Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim has said that a new era of progress and development in the rural areas of Sindh has ushered in with the launching of the Village Improvement Programme which would also bring economic prosperity to people of backward areas.
He was talking to villagers during his visit to Ahmedabad, the first model village improved under the programme between Gharo and Thatta on the National Highway, on Sunday. Minister for Health Syed Sardar Ahmed, Adviser to the Chief Minister Aijaz Shah Shirazi, Additional Chief Secretary Ghulam Sarwar Khehro, Senior Member BoR Syed Anwar Haider, Secretary Livestock Siddiq Memon, DCO Thatta Mohammed Usman Panhwar and other senior officials were accompanying the chief minister.
A representative organization of the model village informed the chief minister that local residents were persuaded to send their daughters to the school where he had inaugurated elementary classes on his previous visit.
They said an educational culture was now flourishing in the village and a social change was being felt.
Dr Arbab said that every village in Sindh could become a model village if governmental organisations worked jointly towards this end. He stressed on effective coordination among these organisations to achieve the objective.
The chief minister inspected the under-construction schools being built jointly by the government and local people under the Village Improvement Programme. “To attain knowledge, it’s spirit that is needed and not just walls”, he remarked, while appreciating the spacious classrooms and full attendance of students and teachers.
The chief minister was also impressed by the discipline demonstrated by the village people, and inquired about the working and performance of representative committees, set up under the programme.
Dr Arbab also visited the under-construction Skills Development Centre and told people that it would be operated jointly by the Village Improvement Programme and the Pakistan Baitul Maal to impart free education to girls. Primary education, computer, handicrafts, cooking, etc would be the courses and the deserving girls would be given scholarships, he added.
The chief minister, on behalf of the Pakistan Baitul Maal, distributed cheques of Rs25,000 each among widows and poor women of the village. Col. Filraz Ahmed Siddiqi, Director PBM was also present on the occasion.
Earlier, Dr Arbab also visited three villages at Kalri Lake and issued directive for their inclusion in the Village Improvement Programme.
