GUJRANWALA, Sept 19: Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi has said the provincial government is keen to uplift the standard of people’s life and have launched record number of development project in this connection particularly in rural areas.

He was speaking at the inauguration of provision of natural gas from Ferozewala to Wahndo, costing Rs114 million, and groundbreaking of 76-kilometre-long Sialkot-Eimanabad Road, costing Rs726 million, in Mandiala Tega locality here on Wednesday.

The chief minister said dozens of villages would be benefited due to gas supply and similarly masses would get better transport facilities after the construction of roads network, including the Lahore-Sialkot Motorway whose construction would start from December.

He said the present government had carried on more development projects than Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif undertook during the respective regimes.

He said the government had announced a Rs11 billion package for Gujranwala under which numerous development projects were being undertaken. He said construction of Nullah Deg embankment, costing Rs1.5 million, would help control destruction of crops and loss of life during flooding.

He announced the upgradation of Kamoki girls elementary schools to secondary school, Ferozewala primary schools to elementary schools besides number of other uplift schemes in education and health sectors.

He said around 880 primary and elementary schools in Gujranwala district were being provided better facilities at a cost of Rs600 million while new factories and industries were also being set up to put the country on road to progress and prosperity.

Provincial ministers Rana Shamshad Ahmad Khan, Dr Sohail Zafer Cheema, Federal Parliamentary Secretary Rana Bilal Ijaz, MPAs Chauhdry Nasir Cheema, Mudasser Qayyum Nahara, Engineer Ashref Butt, Akmal Saif Cheema, Shagufta Anwer, District Nazim Fiaz Ahmad Chattha and PML district president Chaudhry Zafer Ullah Cheema were also present.

On the other hand, PML provincial vice president Faisal Adnan Sundho, formerly belonging to Millat Party, criticised the Punjab chief minister’s visit. He said PML local leaders could not get any new development projects announced by the chief minister for Gujranwala district which disappointed the masses.