By Abid Usman
LAHORE: Maryam Nawaz, Punjab’s chief minister nominee of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), has revealed her game plan for the province as she gears up to take charge for five years.
In her address to the media after PML-N’s parliamentary party meeting Wednesday, Maryam said: “A new era will usher in Punjab. I congratulate the PML-N for securing victory [and gaining a majority in the Punjab Assembly].”
If voted into power, Maryam will become the first woman to be elected as a chief minister in Pakistan’s seven-decade-plus history. She will take over the province with a population of more than 127 million people, more than half of Pakistan’s population.
“This was a tough election, I thank the people of Punjab for providing us with a clear majority. We will set records of service; I haven’t rested since the election results, all of us will have to work as a team,” she added.
Maryam, who holds the portfolios of PML-N’s senior vice-president and chief organiser, said it was a “huge honour” for her to be nominated as Punjab’s first chief minister and dedicated it to the “daughters, mothers, sisters, and reserved seats’ women”.
The CM nominee said the province faces “major challenges” in the health care and education sectors as well as the local government. “There’s also a huge issue of sewage, clean water in rural areas.”
Maryam told the newly-elected MPAs that they would have to view Punjab’s 297 constituencies as 297 districts in order to ensure development in every lawmaker’s constituency.
“I have worked on the Safe Punjab Programme; we’ll have to expand the Safe City Project to all cities. To improve the environment of police stations for women, we will be making model women police stations,” she said.
She added that her government would also address the problem of traffic in Lahore. Lamenting that there’s no IT city across the country, she vowed to establish five of them across the province.
“We will also deliver marriage, death, and car certificates to people’s homes,” she said, adding that her government would also grant interest-free loans to the youth. “We’ll redesign health cards and ensure treatment at private and public hospitals.”
The CM-hopeful also pledged to work on the health and education sectors and the provision of employment and housing to the people of the province.
“We will made one hundred thousand houses for the poor, provide interest-free loans to the youth and merit-based scholarships to young students to study abroad,” she added.
