BAHAWALPUR, July 21 Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has announced the restoration of Bahawalpur Development Authority (BDA) and approval of Rs5 billion for local development schemes. The BDA was formed in 1987 by then Nawaz Sharif government in the Punjab and it was disbanded in 2000 during the Musharraf rule.

Mr Sharif announced this after a briefing by Punjab Planning and Development Board Chairman Sami Saeed and Commissioner Muhammad Mushtaq Ahmad at the Circuit House here on Tuesday. Chief Secretary Javed Mehmood and Inspector General Tariq Saleem Dogar, provincial secretaries and MPs of the Bahawalpur division were also present. The chief minister said Rs1.35 billion were already being utilised on the ongoing projects in the city.

After the briefing, the chief minister planted a sapling on the lawns of the Circuit House.

As the gates of the Circuit House were locked, a sizeable crowd of men and women gathered there demanding that their meeting with the chief minister be arranged. When their demand was turned down by the security staff, Rajab Ali, of Uch Sharif, sprinkled kerosene oil on his body and attempted self-immolation. Police officials, however, foiled his bid and took him into custody. His family told Dawn they had a property dispute with their relatives, who had denied them their shares and they wanted justice from the chief justice.

Mr Sharif inaugurated 11 new development projects costing about Rs2.7 billion. This included the widening of roads, including Farid Gate Stadium and Old University Chowk roads, laying of foundation stone of Satellite Hospital attached to the Bahawal Victoria Hospital and a veterinary college at Baghdadul Jadid Campus of the Islamia University, Bahawalpur.

The chief minister is expected to leave for Bahawalnagar on Wednesday (today) and will be back here to address Pakistan Muslim League-N workers in the evening.

PRESS CONFERENCE Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif says the creation of more provinces is a constitutional matter and parliament alone can decide it.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday night, he said people of south Punjab were peace loving and as such there was no threat of militancy taking root here.

The chief minister said a sum of Rs 47billion would be spent on different projects in the Bahawalpur division during the next five years.

He said the Food Support Scheme would be made more transparent.