April 13, 2008	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 6, 1429

LAHORE, April 12: The newly elected Chief Minister of Punjab, Dost Mohammad Khosa, on Saturday announced that the new Chief Minister’s House built by his predecessor Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi would be converted into an information technology institute for women.

He accused the former chief minister of spending huge public money in the construction of the new CM Secretariat. “The Rs353 million building was a wastage of taxpayers’ money,” he said.

Speaking at a press conference after taking the oath of office, Mr Khosa said the total strength of CM Secretariat’s staff was 894, but currently 827 officials were working.

He said that the amount spent on salaries and allowances of the staff stood at Rs49.4 million in the current financial year.

He said the official document suggested the CM Secretariat owned a total of 137 vehicles, including nine bullet-proof vehicles. One of the bullet-proof vehicles was still under the use of Pervaiz Elahi, he added.

He alleged that the CM Secretariat had spent over Rs977 million over the past four years. He announced that the secretariat’s annual budget would be reduced by 70 per cent.

“The VIP culture has officially ended. I am, and shall remain, God willing, a servant of people.”

Mr Khosa said that in future no-one would get any entitlement beyond the remit of the law.

Earlier, Governor Khalid Maqbool administered the oath to Mr Khosa at the Governor’s House amid slogans of “Go Musharraf go” and “Nawaz Sharif zindabad”.

No PML-N leader, except Punjab president Sardar Zulfikar Khosa, father of the new chief minister, attended the oath-taking ceremony.