Fully empowered secretaries of 16 departments will now sit in S.Punjab secretariat, tweets Buzdar

(Karachi) Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has said that fully empowered secretaries of 16 departments will now sit in the South Punjab secretariat.

In a tweet on Thursday, the chief minister said: "By the grace of Allah, the Tehreek-e-Insaf government has fulfilled another promise made by the people of South Punjab."

He added, "The additional chief secretary will have all the powers of chief secretary."

الحمد للہ آج تحریک انصاف کی حکومت نے جنوبی پنجاب کی عوام سے کیا ایک اور وعدہ پورا کر دیا

پنجاب کے 16 محکموں کے سیکریٹریز اور افسران اب مکمل اختیارات کے ساتھ ساؤتھ پنجاب سیکرٹریٹ میں بیٹھیں گے اور ایڈیشنل چیف سیکرٹری کےپاس بھی چیف سیکرٹری کی تمام پاورز ہوں گی. #SubaJunoobiPunjab

— Usman Buzdar (@UsmanAKBuzdar) August 13, 2020

Buzdar maintained the officials would be given administrative and financial autonomy to deal with affairs of the region.

The esta­blishment of the South Pun­jab Secretariat would bring relief to people who had to travel to Lahore for the resolution of their problems. The secretariat will cover three divisions — Multan, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan.

The South Punjab civil secretariat will function under the additional chief secretary and house 18 departments, including planning and development, health, education, irrigation, communication and works, finance, local government, housing, women development, energy and agriculture.

Each department will be represented by a special secretary, while having full powers of an administrative secretary. The special secretary of each department will have a team of two additional secretaries, four deputy secretaries and four section officers besides ministerial and support staff.