MULTAN, April 17: Punjab Chief Secretary Nasir Mehmood Khosa has said all ongoing development projects of the Southern Punjab Development Programme will be completed by June 30 and additional funds will be provided if any need arises.

The chief secretary said this while presiding over a meeting at the Commissioner office to review development projects in the Multan division here on Sunday.

Mr Khosa said that officers with administrative powers should monitor these development projects to ensure the proper utilization of the allocated funds.

He directed the commissioner to submit a list of projects that were to be completed by Aug 14 to the Punjab government as Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif would inspect them after returning from his visit to China.

He directed the DCOs to adopt an effective strategy and utilize all available resources to achieve the revenue collection target.

The chief secretary directed them to take steps and activate all district committees to recover the agricultural and commercial lands from grabbers and remove encroachments along the highways on a priority basis.

Mr Khosa asked DCOs and the deputy director (food) to provide maximum facilities to farmers to dispose of their wheat at procurement centers established by the food department.

He said that no restriction should be imposed on the movement of wheat and farmers should be given the procurement price fixed by the government.

He said that gunny bags should be provided to farmers as per gardawari (filed book) while officials must avoid issuing gunny bags for the need of more than five days.

Briefing the chief secretary, deputy director (food) Asif Iqbal said the procurement target for the Multan division was 0.59 million tons of wheat and all arrangements, including the availability of gunny bags and the establishment of procurement centers, had been completed.

He said the distribution of gunny bags among farmers would start from April 18 while the procurement process would start from April 20.

Mr Khosa said that funds had been released for census and all districts would get these in a couple of days.

DCOs informed the chief secretary that 70 per cent work on the census had been completed and the rest would be done within a few days.

MDA director-general Syed Tassaduq Hussain Bokhari, DCO Zahid Akhtar Zaman, Khanewal DCO Rashid Mehmood, Vehari DCO Muhammad Ashraf Chaudhry and Lodhran DCO Ghulam Farid were also present. OWNERSHIP RIGHTS:

In connection with the “International Day of Peasants”, activists of labor parties have demanded ownership rights for landless peasants.

Scores of activists of the Labor Party Pakistan, Communist Mazdoor Kisan Party, Pakistan Mazdoor Mahaz, Awami Jamhori Forum, Seraiki Lok Party, Workers Rights Commission and Base Development Organization held a joint meeting here on Sunday.

Addressing participants, Sohail Javed of the Labor Party Pakistan said the day was observed every year in commemoration of the murder of 19 Brazilian peasants of the “landless movement” in 1996.

He demanded effective land reforms in the country and that the land should be distributed among landless peasants.