LAHORE: The Punjab chief secretary on Wednesday dispatched 15 secretaries and the cane commissioner to three districts in south Punjab for staying there for three days and preparing for a cabinet meeting scheduled to be held there by the weekend.

Official sources said the secretaries were asked to fully prepare for the first-ever cabinet meeting in the remote districts of south Punjab and briefing the chief minister. They said five secretaries each were assigned three districts and asked to remain there from Dec 27 (tomorrow) to Dec 29. The secretaries were struggling to get accommodation in the assigned districts and reach there by Thursday morning, officials said.

Earlier, the secretaries would rush to Murree for cabinet meeting or briefings to former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif during all his three stints. And they are being dispatched to south Punjab because the present chief minister hails from there.

According to a direction issued by the cabinet division earlier in the day, the secretaries of the school education, specialised healthcare and medical education, housing, industries and livestock and dairy development were assigned Bahawalnagar.

Bahawalpur was assigned to the secretaries food, agriculture, local government, primary and secondary health, and energy.

Rahim Yar Khan was assigned to secretaries irrigation, excise, human rights, sports, auqaf and the cane commissioner. They were asked to remain present in the assigned districts from Dec 27 to 29 prior to the visit of the chief minister and a cabinet meeting.

“The deputed officers will monitor the ongoing major projects/new initiatives of the government in the district in general and initiatives of their own departments in specific including monitoring of sugarcane crushing, if pertaining to Bahawalpur division, and present a brief/comprehensive report to the chief minister on Dec 29,” the order said.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2018