ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday chaired his third meeting of the full, 21-member federal cabinet, during which ministers discussed the creation of a new province: Southern Punjab.
Other key matters on the agenda during the three-and-half-hour meeting, held in Islamabad at the premier’s office, included the implementation Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s first 100-day plan, the shuffling of government officers, the formation of task forces to implment a number of reforms, expenditure, employment and shelter schemes. The performance of the reforms task forces will be reviewed by the prime minister every 15 days, Federal Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry aid after the meeting.
“Government reforms are an important matter, under which civil service reforms hold a high degree of importance.” he added. “Our adviser for austerity has been tasked with presenting federal government reforms within 90 days.”
One the most interesting developments arising from the meeting was the possible creation of Southern Punjab province. Punjab is Pakistan’s breadbasket and the country’s most densely populated province.
Chaudhry said it is no small task to form a new province and the ruling coalition would require a “consensus” and “two-thirds majority” from opposition parties, including the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.
“The PTI government will hold talks with the PPP, PML-N and other parties to draft a feasible plan for the creation of a province in South Punjab,” he added.
During the cabinet meeting, the prime minister was also apprised of the progress of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project, which falls under the purview of Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform led by Federal Minister Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar. Khan will soon be given a more detailed presentation about CPEC projects, state-owned radio reported.
Chaudhry also revealed that ministers agreed to set up an oversight task force to tackle the creation of 10million jobs and the building of five million houses, as promised by Khan’s manifesto, along with a tree-planting campaign that is a continuation of PTI’s “billion-tree tsunami drive,” which achieved its target in August 2017.
The “Plant for Pakistan Day” reforestation campaign will be launched by Khan in Islamabad, with the chief ministers of each province following suit with local launches. An estimated 1.5 million saplings will be planted across the country in a single day, on September 2, the information minister said.
Malik Amin Aslam, the climate change adviser to the prime minister, said that the initiative is imperative to prevent the country turning into a desert. The government, with the forest department and municipal administrations, has set up 190 pick-up points across the country, which will be advertised on a Facebook page that is under development, he said.
“This page will tell people, from where they can collect plants and who will provide them,” Aslam added.
