KHAIRPUR, Nov 13: Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah has said that allotment of free-of-cost residential plots to the poor and needy people is a revolutionary step taken by the government of the Pakistan People’s Party under its popular manifesto slogan of ‘Roti, Kapra aur Makan’.

He was speaking at a ceremony held here on Tuesday to lay the foundation stone of the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Housing Scheme (SBBHS), a housing scheme to be executed near Luqman.

Mr Shah said that under the scheme plots worth Rs400,000 to Rs500,000 each were being allotted to the needy people of Luqman, which the PPP wanted to developed into a city with proper civic facilities.

He said that no other government had ever provided free housing units to the poor in the past. He announced that the party would provide this essential facility across the province and facilitate the beneficiaries of the scheme in getting their houses constructed.

“The Sindh government was doing its best to alleviate poverty in the province,” he said, adding that more measures were planned to be taken in this regard.

The chief minister informed the audience that the SBBHS having 80 acres would offer plots of 100 to 1,500 yards each to be allotted to deserving people through lucky draws. He directed Sukkur Commissioner Mohammad Abbas Baloch and SBBHS Cell Chairman Syed Manzar Abbas to complete the planning and other procedures for the allotment process within a month.

Mr Abbas briefed the chief minister about the master plan of the scheme and said that the laying of infrastructure for the scheme including water supply and sewerage system and road network had already been planned. He said that the scheme would cost Rs234.639 million.

He said that there were 1,530 plots, including 188 commercial ones, in the scheme in addition to three plots each for mosques, schools and community centres and one plot each for a hospital and a vocational institute.

Eight more plots had been earmarked as playgrounds and parks, he added.

Earlier, the chief minister laid the foundation stone of the scheme and visited the land proposed for the scheme.

Ghulam Sarwar Kandhir, the Adviser on Planning at the Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro, and Prof Dr Mujeeb Sahrai, the Principal of the Mehran University College of Engineering and Technology, Khairpur, gave a briefing to the chief minister at the Circuit House, Khairpur, about various ongoing and completed development projects at their respective institutions.

He was informed that construction of the civil and mechanical engineering departments at the college had been completed and the work for the electrical and petroleum engineering departments was under way.

He was urged to order the release of allocated funds for various schemes of the college.

The chief minister told them that he would hold a meeting with the officials concerned to review and do the needful for the purpose.