LAHORE, July 11: Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on Friday announced a housing society for Lahore-based journalists.

Speaking at an oath-taking ceremony in the Lahore Press Club, he also announced Rs1.15 million for repairing the press club building, and increased its annual grant from Rs1 million to Rs1.5 million.

The chief minister mentioned various policies of his government in agriculture, irrigation and education sectors, saying the government would focus on development of areas that had been neglected in the past.

He said that journalists had been demanding housing colonies all over the province. “I am therefore announcing a colony for members of the Lahore Press Club — which is the biggest in Asia and has been constructed by another Muslim League chief minister, the late Ghulam Haider Wyne.”

The chief minister said all arrangements had been made for the colony and land identified for it. The government would develop the colony itself, but journalists would have to contribute a little bit too, he said in a lighter vein.

He constituted a three-member committee comprising the information secretary, the director-general of public relations and the press club president to ensure speedy implementation of the plan.

The chief minister said there would be no dearth of plots in the colony, but the press club would have to formulate a policy for their distribution. Plots would be distributed through the press club, he said, asking its office-bearers to prepare a flawless criteria for the purpose.

The chief minister said the government was also providing all assistance to the regional press. It had given land for press clubs in Gujranwala and Bahawalpur and would also construct their buildings. The government would give matching grants to all other press clubs in the province, he announced.

He said that politicians tended to have relations with the Press, but his family’s association with it was very old. “Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi launched Mashriq in Lahore on the request of Iqbal Zuberi and the late Inayatullah. Our relations with the Press, developed by our elders, are based on mutual respect and have strengthened over the years.”

The chief minister said he had always welcomed criticism by the Press and took guidance from it. He said he always tried to find out clues for improvement even in negative comments.

He said it was binding that criticism by the press be accepted as it helped correct ones’s policies. However, newspapers should not treat rumours as news and must responsibly confirm the facts so that they need not publish a contradiction the next day.

The chief minister observed that 95 per cent of the material carried by evening newspapers was not published by daily newspapers. “People hide these papers in their homes.”

He said the press must concentrate on its own reformation and not just ask for it in the field of politics. There should be some arrangement for training journalists, he said, adding that he had already offered all assistance to the press club in this regard.

The chief minister said the poor sections of society would ultimately get the benefit of all government policies.

He said the government had announced free education up to matriculation and had earmarked a huge budget for the education sector. Besides lowering the interest rate on agriculture loans from 14 to nine per cent, it had withdrawn the agriculture income tax on up to 12.5 acres of land, benefiting 97.8 per cent of farmers in the province, he said.

The chief minister said the government was introducing reforms in the irrigation sector and removing administrative flaws in the police setup. It had introduced a system to monitor the implementation of policies that consumed a huge budget, and was reorganizing and strengthening the planning and development board for the purpose.

The chief minister said the government intended to develop areas that had been neglected in the past, especially the southern Punjab.

“You will see improvement in every sector in near future,” he said.