MULTAN, May 22: The provincial government has approved Rs60 million grant to enhance productivity of agriculture sector, women development and improvement of rural health centres in the Multan district.

This was stated by Multan Zila Nazim Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi while speaking to a meeting of district council members here on Wednesday.

He said the provincial government had been given the task to carry out uplift schemes, including lining of water channels, availability of agricultural implements for growers, setting up of community centres and better working conditions at district RHCs.

The government, he claimed, on his pointation had revamped its wheat procurement policy due to which the commodity was fetching better prices. Over and above, he said 1.6m gunny bags were made available at procurement centres.

As was now half of the total wheat procurement in the Punjab had been achieved from the Multan district alone, he further claimed.

To promote literacy, Mr Qureshi said the ban on the fresh recruitment of teachers in the province had also been lifted on the recommendation of the district government.

The district government was also undertaking development schemes worth Rs91.8 million in the education sector, he said.

He urged the union council Nazimeen to brave the hurdles in ‘true’ implementation of the devolution plan. “Nobody can undermine our authority if we abide by the laws and rules of business,” he added.

LOAN PAYMENT: Growers have sped up loan payments to the Agriculture Development Bank of Pakistan (ADBP) after the waiving off interests on principal amounts.

This was stated by an ADBP official during a meeting chaired by EDO (Revenue) Zulfiqar Ali Toor while reviewing the recovery position in its various heads of revenue collection in the district.

He informed the meeting that the bank had recovered Rs3.6 million outstanding amounts in the district during the month of April.