LAHORE, Feb 22: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said if given an opportunity, he would set up Ashiana housing schemes for workers, orphans, widows and destitute persons throughout the country, says a handout. He said this at the inaugural ceremony of the balloting for Ashiana Quaid Extension Project at Chief Minister's Secretariat on Wednesday.

He said a system based on justice would be introduced in the country by eliminating inequality. He said loans worth billions of rupees written off on a political basis would be recovered and utilised for the welfare and betterment of the masses.

Provincial ministers, assembly members, intellectuals and a large number of applicants were present.

The chief minister said the Ashiana housing project was the first such project in the country providing shelter to the poor. He said work on the extension project of Ashiana Quaid at Saroba Atari had been started and 2,000 houses would be constructed. He said 935 five-marla plots would also be given through transparent balloting.

Punjab Land Development Company Chairman Sheikh Allauddin said 2,000 houses were being built in Ashiana Quaid and more than 40,000 applications had been received for houses in its extension scheme. He said Ashiana Iqbal was being constructed on Burki Road where a new city of 8,000 houses would be inhabited.

He said college, university, industrial estate and all other facilities would be provided in Ashiana Iqbal. He said model houses had been constructed in Sahiwal, Jhelum, Sargodha and Faisalabad. Applications for Ashiana Iqbal would be received in March.