PDM worried about its bleak future: minister

LAHORE:Minister for Industries and Trade Mian Aslam Iqbal has regretted that the ruling elite enjoyed the fruits of development in the past but the incumbent government has initiated public-friendly initiatives like Ehsas Programme, Kamyab Jawan Programme, Sehat Card Scheme, shelter homes and almonries for the masses.

According to a handout issued here, the minister expressed these views while talking to the party workers at his office here on Monday.

The minister said that the Punjab Rozgar Programme is the mega initiative of providing soft loans for starting a small scale business and the needy could get loans of different categories from one lakh rupees to 10 million. An increase in exports and economic stability are major macroeconomic achievements of the PTI, he said. It is, however, regrettable that the steady economic recovery and holistic industrialisation have panicked the opposition and the PDM leadership is worried about its bleak political future, he added.

Those avoiding tendering resignations have no capacity or potential to hold a long march and every conspiracy of the defeated elements will be foiled, he stressed. Aslam Iqbal asserted that those trying to disrupt the development process will not get anything. He advised the opposition to reconsider its negative attitude after repeated defeats as the conspirators have been fully exposed. The PTI has launched a vigorous crusade against corruption and corrupt mafia will meet its logical end while people will be the ultimate winners, the minister said.

Meanwhile, Minister for Industry and Commerce Mian Aslam Iqbal has said that garbage collection from the City should be intensified, adding it is the responsibility of the agency concerned to lift the garbage from the City areas. He said this during his visit to the head office of Lahore Waste Management Company here on Monday. He was briefed by the company CEO, Imran Ali Sultan, on the ongoing garbage collection operation in the provincial capital. Lahore Waste Management Company Chairman Amjad Ali Noon was present in the briefing.

The minister said all out efforts should be made to clean the City. He said it was the government responsibility to provide a clean environment to the citizens. “I will personally visit the City to review the sanitation arrangements,” he said, adding the garbage piles should not be seen anywhere in the City. He instructed the LWMC officers to stay in field to oversee the cleaning operation.