Punjab Cabinet approves 20 kg free flour bag per family

LAHORE: Caretaker Chief Minister (CM) Punjab Mohsin Naqvi on Saturday approved 20 kg flour bag for all the families obtaining one flour bag at the same time, ARY News reported.

The Punjab CM  presided over the 11th Provincial Cabinet meeting in which decision was taken for further smoothing the provision of free flour under Ramazan.

CM Mohsin Naqvi while addressing the Cabinet meeting directed the Provincial Ministers and Secretaries to continue visiting the centers regularly and submit their reports to the CM Office.

Various proposals regarding simplifying the registration process were reviewed as a committee comprising provincial ministers and senior officials will present its final recommendations regarding registration process.

The provision of free flour across Punjab was comprehensively reviewed during the meeting and the Punjab Cabinet expressed its complete satisfaction over the provision of flour process.

It was apprised to the Cabinet during the briefing that approximately more than 70 lac flour bags have been distributed among the deserving persons until now.

CM Mohsin Naqvi directed that bazaars and markets should also be checked in order to ensure availability of essential edibles at fixed rates.

Mohsin Naqvi asserted that the whole administration should remain proactive in this regard.

Approval was granted during the meeting to recruit doctors and other allied staff on ad hoc basis in the Specialized Healthcare & Medical Education department and Primary & Secondary Healthcare department.

Approval was also granted to extend the service period of the contract employees of Public Health Engineering department along with Social Welfare & Baitul Maal department. Approval was granted to transfer the land of Specialized Healthcare & Medical

Education department in Johar Town to the Special Education department to establish state of the art Autism Center for differently able children.

Dissatisfaction was expressed over the performance of Child Protection Bureau during the Punjab Cabinet meeting and it was decided to reconstitute the institution.

The Cabinet was informed during the briefing that 1050 children are present in the Child Protection Bureau Centers while the number of staff members is 750 only. It was directed during the meeting to look after the children present in the Child Protection Bureau Centers in an proper manner.

The Punjab Cabinet granted approval of MOU between Social Welfare & Baitul Maal department and Lahore Institute Of Health Sciences. Approval was granted during the meeting to establish Cabinet Standing Committee for Universal Health Insurance.

Provincial Minister for Specialized Healthcare & Medical Education Doctor Javed Akram will be the Head of the Committee while Provincial Minister for Industries SM Tanvir will be Co-Chairman of the Committee. Approval was granted during the meeting to appoint Chairpersons in the Drug Courts of Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and Gujranwala.

Approval was granted during the meeting for the Government of Punjab accounts audit reports for the year 2020-2021 and 2021-2022.

The decisions of the first 10 Cabinet meetings were also endorsed during the meeting. Provincial Ministers, Chief Secretary, Inspector General of Police, Secretaries of concerned departments attended the meeting.