LAHORE   -  Provincial Law Minister Raja Basharat has directed the authorities concerned to ensure uninterrupted supply of essential items during the lockdown, say-ing that the supply chain should not be affected in any way.

He gave this direction while presiding over a high-level meeting at Civil Secretariat here on Friday. The Chief Secretary of Punjab, Additional Chief Secre-tary, Additional Chief Secretary (Home), and other officers concerned attended the meeting. The meet-ing reviewed the situation caused by corona pan-demic, provision of medical facilities in hospitals, and steps to maintain uninterrupted supply of essen-tial items during the lockdown.

Addressing the meeting, Raja Basharat said that a comprehensive plan must be evolved for supply chain management during lockdown. He maintained that non-implementation of SOPs has led to increase in the corona cases, urging people to cooperate with administration in efforts to contain the spread of vi-rus.

The Chief Secretary Punjab said that the lockdown would be strictly enforced and in case of violation, action would be taken as per law. He directed the Healthcare Commission to monitor the treatment of corona patients in private hospitals. The chief secre-tary also issued instructions regarding uninterrupted supply of essential commodities and unhindered courier services. The meeting also decided to present recommendations to the National Command and Operations Center (NCOC) to exempt export-oriented and agricultural-related industries from the lockdown being enforced from May 8 to 16.

ADMIN PROVIDES 65,814 FLOUR BAGS AT RAMAZAN BAZAARS

The district administration supplied around 65,814 flour bags of 10kg in all 31 Ramazan Bazaars of the provincial capital, out of which 59,512 bags were sold out during the last 24 hours. The administration supplied flour bags in nine zones of provincial capital. According to details, around 6,000 flour bags were supplied in Gulberg zone of which 5,709 bags were sold out.

As many as 11,700 flour bags were supplied in Nashtar zone, 6,400 in Data Gunj Bakhsh zone, 6,000 in Samnabad zone, 5,279 in Ravi zone, 7,600 in Aziz Bhatti zone, 11,335 on Allama Iqbal zone, 7,000 in Shalimar zone and 4,500 in Wagha zone.

There was no shortage of subsidised flour or sugar in Ramazan bazaars and the administration was taking strict measures to fulfill requirements of bazaars as provision of quality products with affordable price was the core ambition of the department, spokesman said.