Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Wednesday made it clear to provincial commissioners that she did not want them to sit in air-conditioned rooms but wanted to see them on the field.Chairing an important meeting of commissioners in Lahore, she said that while some commissioners’ performance was satisfactory, others’ performance was not up to the mark. “There is no room for negligence,” she said categorically. The chief minister also said that only merit would be followed. “No nepotism will be tolerated.”

She informed that from now onwards, development schemes worth billions of rupees would be completed in districts from their own resources.Commissioners of Sahiwal, Sargodha, Faisalabad and Multan gave a detailed briefing to CM Maryam on available resources and proposed development projects.She showed anger over the death of a three-year-old girl, who fell into a manhole in a private housing society in Faisalabad. “If from now on, any person dies after falling into a manhole, the housing society owner will be arrested,” she ordered. The chief minister ordered that notices be issued to the owners of all private housing societies in Punjab.

She also ordered that there should be a monitoring of private or government school buildings. “All construction sites should be properly cordoned off in order to prevent any incident.” CM Maryam expressed grave concern over the plight of roads in Sahiwal division.She was informed that the local government in Sahiwal division had funds of Rs4 billion, and that development works worth Rs1.12 billion would be initiated in the division. The chief minister was told that 10 roads would be built in the division, which would be 18.8-kilometer long, and would cost the government Rs862 million.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)