AJK polls results a message for rivals: CM

LAHORE:Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has said that the PTI’s victory in AJK elections was a message for the opponents as the outcome had shown that the PTI was the most popular party in the country. The hollow slogans of giving respect to vote had met a natural death, he added.

These views were expressed by him during a meeting with Provincial Minister for Forest Muhammad Sibtain Khan at CM office on Tuesday. The CM and the minister extended felicitations to PM Imran Khan over PTI’s success in AJK elections. Sibtain Khan said the PTI’s success was the victory of norms of transparency and honesty. The people preferred trustworthy leadership while the past rulers had become a symbol of disgrace, he added.

The CM said that the government had approved the forest policy as well as the protected area act. He said around 120 million saplings would be planted during the current year, and around 60 million of those would be planted during the ongoing monsoon season. He expressed satisfaction that 14,000 acres of forest land had been retrieved from squatters to utilise it for plantation. He regretted that the environmental pollution had increased due to ruthless cutting of trees in the previous government tenure. On the other hand, the PTI government had established more than 600 nurseries in the province, he added.

TEVTA: The chief minister Tuesday formally introduced the Apprenticeship Act 2021 at the Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Tevta) Secretariat to provide training to youths in the industrial sector. The act would provide on-job training to the youth and the certification would be conducted by Tevta. The CM also planted a sapling at Tevta Secretariat and inspected the blue pottery display centre. He said the provincial government had formulated the first skill policy, which would be presented before the cabinet for approval soon. The past governments ignored Tevta, while the PTI-led government gave Rs3 billion for different Tevta programmes. He said Skill Punjab Portal had also been designed to provide jobs to the skilled youth. The chief minister announced establishing the first skill Technology Park over an area of 120-kanal at the Tevta secretariat, adding that 220,000 students were being trained in 403 Tevta institutions every year. Punjab’s first skill mapping project was successfully moving forward, in collaboration with the urban unit, he added. Meanwhile, more than 100,000 youths had been given free skill education under the CM Hunarmand Programme to provide employment to needy youths.