CM Punjab distributes Rs 110m among toppers, institution heads

Lahore, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has distributed more thn Rs 110 million among position holders and heads of educational institutions from all over the country in a grand ceremony for toppers of intermediate examinations 2012 on Tuesday.
 
The Toppers Convention-2012 was held at Alhamra Cultural Complex which was attended by position holders of all the four provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Gilgit-Baltistan and Islamabad.
 
The chief minister while speaking on the occasion said that the Punjab government had spent extraordinary funds for the development of the education sector and was training the youth with latest knowledge. He added the Punjab government had awarded cash prizes of Rs 550 million to position holders of the whole country during the last five years and laid the foundation of education revolution. 
 
Shahbaz Sharif said 125,000 laptops were distributed among talented students on merit last year and the program will continued this year as well. He said that among the recipients of laptops more than 10,000 IT experts would be able to play their role in getting distinguish place for Pakistan among developed nations and Pakistan would also become ‘Silicon Valley’ someday.
 
He said Rs 2 billion were wasted on the construction of a palatial Chief Minister’s House at 8-Club Road where bulletproof glass at a cost of Rs 120 million was fixed. He said he had not even entered the majestic Chief Minister’s Secretariat.
 
He further the construction of a luxurious complex for ministers at a cost of Rs 650 million has been stopped. He added the former chief minister started a project at the rear of Punjab Assembly at a sum of Rs 2.5 billion and wasted national resources on the Thokar Niaz Beg flyover and Lahore–Kasur Road and instead of completing the projects, misappropriated billions of rupees. However, the present government has turned the ‘graveyards’ of corruption into monuments of development, he added.