Chief Minister for billboard-free City

LAHORE (Online) - Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has directed that the City should be made completely free of billboards while state land should be retrieved from illegal occupants for the construction of modern pavilions for providing facilities of recreation and sports to the youth.
He further directed that a comprehensive plan should be presented for the beautification of Jallo Park and Iqbal Park whereas Jinnah Bagh should be handed over to the Parks and Horticulture Authority(PHA) for its uplift and provision of better facilities to the citizens.
He ordered that the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) should remain fully alert to cope with any untoward situation during monsoon season and all arrangements should be finalised in this regard. He said that if people faced hardships during monsoon or the problem of drainage of water arose in the low lying areas, the guilty officials will not be spared. He further directed that the project of installation of tubewells should be completed at the earliest for the provision of potable water to the people.
He was presiding over a meeting regarding PHA, Was, SWM and installation of tube-wells at CM Secretariat here on Tuesday.
The Chief Minister further directed setting up of a book street and a tea shop for writers at Mall Road as well as beautification of the canal from Wahga to Tokhar Niaz Beg. He directed setting up of two cultural villages in Lahore and to give him a briefing in this regard within one month after identification of the villages.
He said that billboards have marred the traditional beauty of the city during the last few years. He said that after removal of all billboards from the city a policy would be evolved for erecting billboards at only a few specific places for which PHA would develop a beautiful design. He also issued instructions for the removal of billboards from residential areas.
He directed that monuments should be constructed while flowers should be planted at important road crossings of the city while on the pattern of Liberty Chowk, these road crossings should be outsourced to multi-national companies.
He said the Wasa will have to repeat its performance of the rainy seasons of 1998. He said that machinery, generators and pumps should be completely checked before monsoon while arrangements should also be made for the training of the concerned staff.
FWO representative informed that installation of 40 tube-wells has been completed while the remaining tube-wells will soon be installed.
MNA Bilal Yasin, Azhar Khokhar, MPA Mian Nauman, Mohsin Latif, Ch Shahbaz Ahmad, Ch Allah Rakha, Chairman Taskforce Khawaja Ahmad Hassan, Secretary Housing, Commissioner Lahore Division, Directors General LDA and PHA, Managing Director Wasa as well as representatives of Frontier Works Organisations (FWO), NESPAK and other concerned departments were present.