10 uplift schemes approved

LAHORE :The Punjab government approved 10 development schemes of various sectors at an estimated cost of Rs 10.079 billion Tuesday.

The approved development schemes include construction of building of Ghazi University, DG Khan, at a cost of Rs. 1043.084 million, establishment of Muhammad Nawaz Shareef University of Agriculture, Multan (Phase-II) (Revised) at a cost of Rs. 1746.258 million, reconstruction of Pipal House, A-Block Lahore, at a cost of Rs. 433.915 million, construction of MPA Hostel (Phase-II), Lahore, at a cost of Rs. 3500.989 million, consultancy services for third party monitoring and validation for Disaster & Climate Resilience Improvement Project (DCRIP) (PC-II) at a cost of Rs. 27.148 million, Disaster & Climate Resilience Improvement Project (DCRIP) – Enhancing Resilience against Sub Surface/ Seepage underneath Nawabpur Flood Bund from RD 4+000 to 17+950 at a cost of Rs. 483.730 million, Disaster & Climate Resilience Improvement Project (DCRIP) – Enhancing Resilience against Sub Surface Flow/ Seepage underneath LMB Taunsa Barrage from 18+000 to 46+000 at a cost of Rs. 1,643.728 million, protecting village Kund Sargana, its surrounding Abadies and other infrastructure of Tehsil Kabir Wala from erosive action of River Ravi (NDRMF) at a cost of Rs. 277.439 million, land acquisition for establishment of sewage treatment plant (Sialkot) under Punjab Intermediate Cities Improvement Investment Program at a cost of Rs. 399.844 million and land acquisition for sewage treatment plant Sahiwal under Punjab Intermediate Cities Improvement Program at acost of Rs. 523.463 million.

Quaid-e-Azam paid tributes: Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah introduced labour laws in the Indian Legislative Assembly for the welfare of the labour. He introduced ways to tackle challenges such as poverty, ignorance, unemployment and irrational gap between the rich and the poor. These views were expressed by veteran trade union leader Khurshid Ahmad, General Secretary of All Pakistan Workers Confederation, in a meeting of the trade union and paid tribute to the great services of the Father of the nation on his birth anniversary.

He said the Founder of Pakistan devoted his life to serving the nation and struggled for strengthening democracy, social justice and achieving economic and social development of the nation. The federal and provincial ruling class and all the political parties are obliged to adopt national action plan to tackle those issues urgently and promote national unity and get the workers their fundamental rights.

WCLA projects: In the year 2019, the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) has completed different conservation, restoration and tourism projects at Lahore Fort and inside the walled city of Lahore whereas new projects will also be launched in 2020 while the schemes and projects were approved by the government under the fiscal year 2019-2020. Officials said the projects at Lahore Fort included the conservation of Barood Khana, western façade of picture wall, inauguration of picture wall and Royal Kitchens conservation, restoration of Deewan-e-Aam, conservation of Musaman Gate, conservation of Shah Jahan’s Quadrangle, Alamgiri Gate, Temple of Loh and Shah Burj Gate whereas the total amount released to the WCLA for Fort Projects is Rs50 million since June till December 2019, while the allocated budget is for the year 2019-2020 and WCLA has utilised Rs25 million so far on the fort projects.

The projects to be undertaken at Lahore Fort in 2020 include conservation of Moti Masjid, Shahi Hammam in quarter area, Deewan-e-Aam basement, Dewan-e-Aam, Doulat Khana Khas-O-Aam, Kharak Singh Haveli, Akbari Gate, Makatib Khana and the northern side of the picture wall. The projects to be started in the walled city Lahore in 2020 include project of rehabilitation of Sonehri Masjid, Chowk Kotwali via Dabbi Bazaar and the project cost would be Rs443.467 million, conservation and restoration of Mariam Zamani Masjid at a cost of Rs120.040 million and urban rehabilitation project of Bhatti Gate to Katri Allahdad at a cost of Rs500 million.

Similarly, WCLA would be working on the conservation projects in other cities, including Zohb, Balochistan, Okara, Jhelum, Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Muzaffarabad. The tourism activities started in 2019 included the guided tours of Taxali and Bhatti Gates, Yatra Tour of Sikh Heritage Sites, Dastan–e-Ameer Khusro and Meet the Expert while a National Heritage and Tourism workshop was also organised by WCLA.