LAHORE: Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Monday announced a Rs7 billion Ramazan Package for providing relief to the people during the holy month.

Chairing a meeting of the cabinet committee, the CM said 313 Ramazan bazaars will be established across the province where a 10-kilogramme flour bag will be available at Rs300. The Punjab government will provide around Rs3.5bn subsidy for the purpose, he added.

Fair-price shops will also be established to provide fruits and vegetables at the same rates as in 2018. Similarly,gram flour (besan), dates, dried chickpeas lentils (chana daal) and other items will also be available at those rates, he said. Sugar will be provided at Rs60 per kg and ghee, chicken and eggs sold forRs10 to Rs15 less than the market price.

The CM directed to provide maximum relief to the people, adding that the scope of Sahulat bazaars will be expanded. He further directed to establish a Sahulat Bazaar Authority to provide permanent relief to the consumers from artificial price hike. He ordered following austerity measures while arranging Ramazan bazaars and the saved money to be utilised for providing relief to the people. The CM directed that the Ramazan bazaars be started from Shaaban 25.

“The provincial ministers, secretaries and I will also visit Ramazan bazaars,” he claimed.

Provincial ministers Mian Aslam Iqbal, Syed Hussain Jahanian Gardezi, Sardar Hasnain Bahadur Dareshak, secretaries of industries, agriculture, food and livestock departments and others attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, the CMchaired a meeting at his office to review the performance of and reforms in the Board of Revenue (BoR) for easing the lives of the common man. A senior member Board of Revenue briefed the participants about departmental reforms. The chief secretary, planning and development chairman, secretaries of finance and information departments and others attended the meeting.

The CM stated that the facilities of land mutation andfardwere provided in different villages as 107 rural revenue centres have been initiated by the board. Now, people could avail this facility at the village level, he added and directed to make 700 more such centres functional by the end of this month. A total of 8,000 centres will be activated in the province by the end of this year, he added.

Mr Buzdar announced that he would visit the rural revenue centres during field inspections, adding that 20 mobile units were functional for landrecord in far-flung areas and 20 more will be activated soon.

Similarly, the CM disclosed that a one-window property registration system has also been launched by the Board of Revenue by setting up nine centres. The scope of this programme would be expanded to district level, and he directed to expand it to the tehsil level within three months. Along with it, digital gardawari has been introduced in 807 mouzajaat and the lambardari system reactivated.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2021