Punjab Chief Minister, Shahbaz Sharif has said that there is a need for bringing about a revolution to make Pakistan worth living for the common man. He was addressing a ceremony held to distribute laptops among 6585 students of the University of Engineering & Technology Lahore, here on Monday.
The chief minister urged the students to explore new worlds through hard work and research and take Pakistan to the height of progress. He said that due to inadequate energy resources, Punjab was facing a loss of Rs 300 billion annually. He said that due to non-availability of electricity no importer was willing to purchase items from the industrialists of Punjab.
He said that Pakistan spends Rs 10 billion annually on the import of oil but no attention has been paid to generate energy from coal and other alternative resources. On the other hand, he said, hydle power plants of Nandipur and Chichokimallian which could produce 900 MW energy has been lost. He said that a minister kept the files of these projects pending for one and a half years only because he was not paid commission. The Chinese contractors abandoned this project and left the country while its machinery was lying at Karachi port.
He said that Pakistan was facing serious problems and its internal and external enemies were bent upon weakening the foundations of the country. The chief minister also gave laptops to the top position holders in a speech competition, Mehral Fatima and a student Nadeem Abbas who presented a national song. A recipient of laptop Shamim Kanwal also spoke on the occasion. Later, the chief minister gave laptops to the selected students.
Earlier, Member National Assembly Ahsan Iqbal while addressing the function said that the Punjab government was striving for promotion of education. Vice Chancellor UET, in his welcome address said that 6585 students had been given laptops while 900 students would receive laptops in the next phase.