LAHORE: Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Wednesday approved the establishment of 10 new shelter homes in rented buildings in the provincial metropolis and asked the official machinery to identify suitable places for the purpose.

Mr Buzdar chaired a meeting to provide better facilities in shelter homes and said this model would be replicated in other big cities in phases and standard of facilities would also be improved.

The chief minister also gave in-principle approval for setting up Punjab Shelter Homes Authority to oversee the arrangements while the C&W Departments will take care of the buildings.

He said the Punjab Information Technology Board would devise the IT-based system to digitally monitor the shelter homes. All shelter homes will be geo-tagged and necessary data will be collected every day. The government will develop the best system to facilitate the hapless stratus, he stressed.

The chief minister ordered the installation of signs for the identification of shelter homes on important roads and entry points and to acquire more vehicles for shifting the abandoned people, sleeping on city roads, to nearby shelter homes and the cooperation of the philanthropist be acquired as well.

The meeting decided to set up rehabilitation centres for beggars and addicts along with the start of almonries for feeding the needy outside shelter homes.

The chief minister expressed the satisfaction that the PTI government has provided shelter to the shelterless and maintained that the dream of a welfare state will be materialised under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan. Taking care of the hapless community is a great virtue but the previous governments did not attend to the needs of such people, the chief minister concluded.

The committee, led by the ACS (U&I), presented its recommendations for bringing improvements in shelter homes and important decisions were made.

Also, President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Gabriela Cuevas Barron called on the chief minister at his office and discussed different matters including the promotion of institutional collaboration.

Mr Buzdar extended felicitations to her for completing 130 years of the Inter-Parliamentary Union forum while Ms Gabriela Cuevas Barron appreciated the effective anti-corona strategy employed by Punjab.

The CM also commended the services rendered by the IPU president for the supremacy of the institution of the parliament.

“Pakistan fully believes in the supremacy of the parliament for strengthening democracy and it also stresses the importance of dialogue for maintaining peace, development and solution of conflicts,” added Mr Buzdar.

The chief minister pointed out that minorities enjoy unprecedented religious freedom and the budget has been sufficiently increased for their welfare. On the other side, the anti-corona strategy, steered by Prime Minister Imran Khan, has yielded positive results and the government was successful in overcoming this virus in Punjab, the chief minister added.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2020