LAHORE, Nov 24: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Saturday participated in the 969th annual ‘ghusal’ ceremony of Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh’s shrine.

The chief minister, along with Punjab Minister for Auqaf Haji Ehsanuddin Qureshi, Senator Ishaq Dar, local MNAs and MPAs and other senior functionaries, gave bath to the shrine with rose water/essence.

He also prayed for solidarity, integrity, prosperity and development of the country. He directed the police and other departments to ensure foolproof security at the shrine.

He asked the shrine management and Auqaf department to build capacity of the shrine’s security staff to deal with any untoward incident. He also sought better cleanliness arrangements around the boundary wall and at localities situated nearby.

He also visited the route (Nisar Haveli to Karbala Gamay Shah) of the main Muharram procession and received feedback from the mourners about security arrangements. The mourners expressed their satisfaction over the security arrangements.

Later, the chief minister inspected the construction work of the Metro Bus System (MBS) project, directing the officials to make efforts to accomplish the task at the earliest.

He visited some portions of over 8km-long overhead bridge being constructed for the operation of special buses on the way to 27-km long MBS project having signal-free corridor. — Staff Reporter