Industrial estate, artisanvillage in DG Khan approved

LAHORE:The 108th meeting of Punjab Small Industries Corporation (PSIC) Board of Directors on Thursday approved the establishment of an industrial estate and an artisan village in the hometown of Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar.

The meeting was chaired by Provincial Minister for Trade and Industries Mian Aslam Iqbal. The industries secretary, PSIC managing director and board members were also present. The meeting approved establishment of the small industrial estate on an area of 50 acres in Rakh Choti Dilana, Dera Ghazi Khan and the artisan village comprising 16 Kanal land in Taunsa Sharif.

The meeting also took various financial and administrative matters, including constitution of a committee to examine the Chief Minister’s Self-Employment Scheme being run through Akhuwat. The committee would submit its recommendations within next two weeks after a detailed review of the scheme and decisions about the scheme would be taken in the light of the recommendations.

Addressing the meeting, Aslam Iqbal hoped that the artisan village would help promote the local heritage along with facilitating 400 artisans of the area. He directed that establishment of an artisan village near Kartarpur Corridor be reviewed as well. Similarly, re-functioning of dysfunctional a furniture design centre in Chiniot should be ensured and all such PSIC-operated centres should be reactivated in the province.

The minister directed the officers concerned to complete the development works in small industrial estates as soon as possible. The Punjab Small Industrial Estates Policy should be fully followed in this regard, he added.

An industrial estate will be set up on Lahore-Sialkot motorway as revitalising the industrialisation process is important to encourage trade and economic activities, the minister said.

Saiful Malook: PML-N central leader Malik Saiful Malook has said that the government has “picked people’s pocket” by increasing the prices of petroleum products, electricity and gas.

Now the PTI government has increased the fare of metro bus that is again unpopular decision, said the PML-N leader in a statement issued here on Thursday. The people are suffering due to ever-increasing prices of essential goods, he added.

He stated the poor were living in abject poverty. He said the prime minister and his ministers were crying crocodile tears about inflation as no action was taken to end the poverty by them.

He said that in contrast to the promises made by the rulers the the ground reality was that it was becoming more and more difficult for the common man to survive. Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks of the state of Madina and he should know that the rich and the poor in the state of Madina used to sleep at night with full stomach, he said.

The poor people are being deprived of their basic needs. The government should act not only against its opponents but against all the corrupt, he said.

The PML-N leader asked the government to present policies to lessen the hardships of the poor people so that they could take a sigh of relief.

Turkish envoy’s wife urges need to make education priority for welfare: An education trust organised a ceremony in the honour of Zaltu Mera Yurdakul, spouse of Turkish Ambassador to Pakistan H.E. Ihsaan Mustafa Yurdakul, in a school run by the trust on Multan Road.

At the occasion, Mrs. H.E. Ihsaan Mustafa Yurdakul inaugurated the renovated building of a girls’ school and college of the trust on Multan Road. Turkish Consular General Emra Ozbay, Jamaat-e-Islami General Secretary Ameer ul Azeem, Amjad Islam Amjad and other social figures attended the event.

Addressing the function, Zaltu Mera Yurdakul highlighted the importance of education and emphasised the need to make education a priority for the welfare of the backward segments of society. She lauded the efforts of the education trust in the rural areas of Pakistan and praised its projects. She said that the working for the deprived segments of society was a basic requirement. The charity organisations which are working to provide the resources to the needy people should be patronized, he added.

Zaltu Mera Yurdakul expressed her commitment to support the education trust in the future for promoting education in Pakistan.

She also appreciated the role of the Turkish organisation TIKA for supporting the organisations like the education trust. The executive director of trust, Syed Amir Jafri, thanked TIKA for its cooperation. Ameer ul Azeem also thanked TIKA and the government of Turkey for their support and providing basic facilities to the trust.