LAHORE: Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Tuesday directed the finance department to pay the advertisement dues to the newspapers and media houses at the earliest.

He was presiding over a meeting of the media committee at his office in which Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information Iftikhar Durrani, Information Minister Syed Samsam Ali Bukhari, spokesman to CM Dr Shahbaz Gill, Secretary Information and DGPR were present.

He assured that funds would be provided on a priority basis for the payment of dues to the newspapers and media houses. “There should be no delay in the payments,” he added.

He said the information department and the DGPR should project government programmes in an effective manner. He said the government had worked day in and day out during the last eight months to provide relief to the masses and a new working culture had been introduced.

He said the new local government system was a public welfare initiative in which powers would be devolved at the grassroots level. “In the new Pakistan, there is no room for any exploitative local government system. Punjab will take a lead in every sector and people will be empowered,” the chief minister said.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2019