SIALKOT: The Punjab government is spending billions of rupees on various road infrastructure projects here.

Addressing a meeting of the District Development Committee held here on Sunday, Deputy Commissioner Dr Farrukh Naveed said Rs961 million was being spent on a grand project of Shahbaz Sharif Flyover at the congested China Chowk, Rs935 million on dualisation of Sialkot-Eimanabad road, Rs1 billion on reconstruction of main Daska-Pasrur road and Rs961 million on dualisation/reconstruction of Pasrur-Narowal road.

He further said 83 per cent work on Satrah-Pasrur-Gujranwala road was complete at Rs1.2 billion, while 65pc work on main Daska-Sambrial road was complete at Rs1.3 billion.

Dr Naveed told the meeting that a 37km-long carpeted road would be constructed by the end of December in rural areas of the district with Rs569 million under the Punjab CM’s Rural Areas Roads Development Programme. He also claimed that 552 development schemes worth Rs1.5 billion would be completed by the end of this month and 547 others by Dec 31.

MNAs Sahibzada Syed Iftikharul Hassan Shah, Chaudhry Armughan Subhani and MPAs Chaudhry Muhammad Ikram, Chaudhry Tariq Subhani, Rana Abdul Sattar, Chaudhry Mohsin Ashraf, Municipal Corporation Mayor Chaudhry Tauheed Akhtar and district heads of departments also attended the meeting.

COMPENSATION: Punjab Minister for Local Bodies Manshaullah Butt handed over a cheque worth Rs200,000 to labourer Muhammad Sadiq on behalf of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for treatment of his three disabled children.

KASHMIR ISSUE: All Parties Hurriyat Conference Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) convener Ghulam Muhammad Safi has said the sacrifices of hundreds of thousands of Kashmiri people would become fruitful in the shape of freedom of Kashmir from Indian yoke.

He stated this while addressing the participants as chief guest of “Shuhada-i-Kashmir seminar” held at Sialkot Press Club. It was held under the auspices of the Jammu and Kashmir Freedom Movement here on Sunday.

He expressed complete solidarity with the innocent and oppressed people of the occupied Jammu and Kashmir and said peaceful solution to the dispute had now become vital for ensuring sustainable peace in the subcontinent.

Chaudhry Muhammad Ishaq also expressed grave concern over human rights violations in Kashmir and said they should shake the conscience of the international community.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2017