LAHORE, Oct 10: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Friday corruption was gnawing at the roots of the entire system and collective efforts were needed to weed out this curse.

Speaking to a delegation of lawyers, he stressed the need for sincerity and honesty in discharge of responsibilities and provision of justice to people at their doorstep.

He said speedy and cheap justice was key to national progress and urged lawyers to play a role in this regard. He ordered formation of a working group under the chairmanship of the law minister to evolve recommendations for the provision of cheap justice to people.

Separately, Sharif said the government had set up a talent endowment fund with a seed money of Rs2 billion to bear expenditure on the education of position holders in Pakistan and abroad.

Presiding over the meeting of a committee on talent endowment fund for brilliant students at Chief Minister’s Secretariat, Sharif said talented and brilliant students of the province would not face financial problems in pursuing their studies.

He said 60 per cent amount of the endowment fund would be allocated for the students of 15 most backward districts so that they could also have equal opportunities of higher education.

He said no effort was made to recognise the talent of promising students from backward and remote areas of the province over the last 60 years. On the contrary, he said, rights of deserving students were violated by introducing self-finance schemes in educational institutions. —APP