Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has said that shelter homes project will be started in District Headquarters (DHQ) and other major hospitals of the province.
The Chief Minister announced this while presiding over a high-level meeting at his office here on Friday during which progress made on the shelter homes project was reviewed and it was decided to construct shelter homes in hospitals as well.
He directed the Secretary Health to identify suitable places in hospitals for the said purpose and submit a report. The government would welcome the cooperation of the philanthropists for constructing shelter homes in hospitals, he added.
Usman Buzdar said that the facility of a secure stay will be available to the attendants of the patients in hospitals and five shelter homes will be linked with the nearest hospitals in Lahore. He said that the construction of shelter homes will be mandatory in new hospital projects.
Punjab shelter homes authority has been established and the draft act has also been prepared in this regard, he said adding that regional boards will also be constituted for the implementation of the said program at the regional level. The construction of three shelter homes will be completed by the mid of next month at Railway Station, Data Darbar and vegetable market areas in Lahore, he maintained.
The Chief Minister directed that establishment of dispensary should also be reviewed in five shelter homes being constructed in Lahore. The shelter homes project is a praiseworthy initiative of the PTI government for providing much-needed shelter to the people who were forced to sleep in the open because of their haplessness. In fact, serving the impecunious strata is the pivot of our politics, he added.
Usman Buzdar said that there was no example of showing such benevolence towards the poorest of the poor during the previous tenures. Working for the welfare of humanity is a priority agenda of the government, he said.
Published in Daily Times, March 9th 2019.
