Bureaucrats also accountable to public like politicians: Firdous

LAHORE: Special Assistant to Chief Minister (SACM) on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan has said CM Usman Buzdar has taken notice of the Sialkot incident and sought a report and also ordered for an impartial inquiry into the incident.

Talking to the media at DGPR Office here on Monday, she said every aspect of the incident would be investigated and an inquiry report would be submitted to the chief minister. She said the matter related to public relief was mismanaged in Sialkot and the Punjab chief secretary was also provided wrong information about the incident.

Dr Firdous said the chief minister had expressed displeasure over long queues of people for sugar at Ramazan bazaars. The government representatives were responsible if the standard operating procedures (SOPs) were not properly implemented, she said.

She said there was no protocol issue as highlighted by some news channels. “I became furious over provision of substandard food and other items in the Ramazan bazaar,” she said. Actions speak louder than words and Ramazan bazaars have been set up for welfare of people. “If the public representatives are accountable to the people, then the bureaucracy is also accountable,” she said.

The special assistant said the bureaucracy and the public representatives were two important pillars of the government, as both are duty bound to provide relief to people. Those who create hurdles in the way of public welfare initiatives will be dealt with an iron hand. The government was not in a row with the bureaucracy. “We don’t have any personal fights or animosities as we both work for the public welfare,” added the SACM.

She said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) stands committed to welfare of the underprivileged strata, and Chief Minister Usman Buzdar is working hard to materialise the dream of construction of low-cost houses in the province.

She said that 133 sites had been identified across the province for prime minister’s housing scheme and 54 locations had also been chosen in the first phase for construction of housing units. Work will be started on a priority basis at 32 sites, she said.

The special assistant said the Punjab government had provided Rs3 billion for development work at the scheme. She said the monthly instalment of the house would be around Rs10,000. The house size had been increased from 3 marlas to 3.5 marlas on the directions of the CM and the house would be given for Rs14.30 lakh to the beneficiaries, she added.

Dr Firdous said work was in progress on the project in Sargodha, while the scheme was being started in 10 tehsils including Chiniot, Lahore, DG Khan, Khushab, Mianwali, Sargodha and Khanewal. She said in the first phase, more than 10,000 housing units would be constructed for low-income families in 32 tehsils of Punjab.

The construction of affordable houses for the low-income people is the flagship programme of the PTI government and the journalist community could also benefit from the scheme, she added.