FAISALABAD, Feb 20 (APP): State Minister for Information & Broadcasting Farrukh Habib on Sunday said the government had chalked out a comprehensive strategy to provide loans to each and every family with low income to enable them get their own shelter through different policies announced by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government.
He was addressing the oath taking ceremony of newly elected members of Jhang Union of Journalists at Jhang Press Club.
He said the government had launched Naya Pakistan Housing Project and directions had already
been issued to all banks to provide housing loans to the target groups so that the objective of adding new housing units could be achieved within the shortest possible time.
Under the scheme, people could get easy loans for construction of their 3-marla to 10-marla houses, he said, adding that the banks had so far received applications for loans of Rs 260 billion, out of which, loans of Rs 130 billion were approved and Rs 40 billion were distributed so far.
He said that Kamyab Jawan programme was also linked with Housing Project so that low income
people could get housing loans for 3 to 7 years duration.
He said that past rulers only gave lollipop to people, however, the PTI government was taking
practical steps for the welfare and betterment of masses.
He said the government had started provision of interest free loans up to Rs 500,000 under
Kamyab Jawan Programme in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and now the scope of this facility
was extended to Punjab.
He lauded the health card scheme and said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had made every citizen
of Pakistan a millionaire because the card holder could get medical treatment up to Rs 1 million from the best hospital of his choice.
He said that past rulers preferred to get treatment of their diseases from abroad as they failed
to establish even a single quality hospital in the country.
Now, Prime Minister Imran Khan brought a universal health insurance system under which each family in Punjab would get Sehat Card by March 31 and the card holder would be entitled to get free treatment from any public or private hospital of the country. About 2 million people have so far availed the treatment facilities through Sehat cards, he added.
He said the PTI government was introducing durable reforms and programmes in all sectors which
could not be stopped or eradicated because these reforms and programmes would have direct links
with the public welfare.
He said the government was also concentrating to equip youth with hi-tech certification under
“Skill for All” programme so that they could start their own business instead of running behind jobs.
He said that IT exports were 8 million dollars when PTI came into power, and now it jumped to
3 billion dollars and the government was also focusing to further enhance it.
He said that Imran Khan was a visionary leader who preferred to smart lockdown during corona
pandemic and the step was also appreciated by global community as this decision not only saved
jobs of millions of workers in Pakistan but also accelerated the pace of industrialization and
increased national exports.
He said that in 2013 exports of Pakistan and Bangladesh were equal at 24 billion dollars.
Later, Pakistani exports witnessed decrease and it was recorded at 22 billion dollars in 2018
when Bangladeshi exports were 47 billion dollars.
However, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) after coming into power took prudent steps which
caused a substantial increase in exports and now total Pakistani exports were on 38 to 39 billion
dollars.
He said that Pakistan was an agrarian country but unfortunately no proper attention was paid
to this sector. Pakistan has 220 million acres of land, out of which, 50 million acres land was
cultivable. Therefore, the government has allocated Rs.300 billion to increase productivity of
this sector under PM Agriculture Emergency programme, he added.
He said that energy crises also chocked Pakistan’s economy. Now, the government had focused
on construction of 10 dams which would generate 10,000 megawatt cheaper electricity after their
completion.
Farrukh Habib said the Punjab government had earmarked Rs 740 billion for development and the
budget would be distributed among all areas equally under the district development system. This
amount would be utilized to construct new rooms in 27,000 schools in addition to establishing
18 new universities and 8 new mother & child hospitals across the province, he added.
He said the government also bridled in the fertilizer hoarders and ensured availability of urea
fertilizer at Rs 1800 per bag against its sale in the black at Rs 11000 per bag.
The government also importing 19,000 tons urea in addition to increasing its domestic production from 370,000 tons to 450,000 tons which would help in overcoming shortage of urea fertilizer in the country, he added.
The state minister further said that solid steps were also being taken to resolve genuine problems
of journalists community. In this connection, the government was also establishing an independent
commission to provide job security to journalists. Senior journalists would be included in the commission
so that genuine media persons could not be kicked out of his job without any proper justification,
he added.
District Police Officer Jhang Asad Alvi and representatives of Anjuman Tajiran, Jhang Chamber
of Commerce, Jhang Chamber of Small Traders & Small Industries were also present on the occasion.
