Balochistan Govt To Launch Small Loans Programme For Livestock Farming

QUETTA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Apr, 2024) Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti on Tuesday said that a program is being considered to be launched by the Balochistan government to award small loans on easy terms to the graduated youth to establish livestock farming and businesses in other sectors.

The meeting chaired by Mir Sarfraz Bugti has decided that the government in collaboration with Akhuwat Foundation would execute the project to provide soft loans to the educated youth of the province.

Initially, an amount of two billion rupees would be allocated for the flagship program of providing small loans to the youth to initiate their startups.

Through the loan scheme, the youth would be provided loans for establishing their businesses to create employment opportunities in the agriculture, manufacturing, and services sectors.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Livestock and Dairy Development Department Bakht Muhammad Kakar, Provincial Finance Mir Shoaib Nosherwani, Chief Secretary Balochistan Shakeel Qadir Khan, Secretary Livestock Department Muhammad Tayyab Lehri, Secretary Finance Babar Khan and other senior officials has reviewed the affairs of Livestock and Dairy Development Department.

The meeting has also decided to launch mobile units in 36 districts of the province for the vaccination of livestock and issued orders to the finance department regarding the release of approved funds.

The Chief Minister of Balochistan expressed anger over the occupation of hundreds of acres of government land ownership to the Livestock Department and other departments occupied by individuals and unrelated persons and ordered the officials concerned to retrieve the occupied lands.

He warned that in the future if any government land is occupied, action would be taken against the concerned deputy commissioner. Speaking at the meeting, the Chief Minister said that the purpose of establishing good governance is to deliver the fruits of the government to the masses.

He added that if the government removes the loopholes in livestock, agriculture, and public sector development programs, many issues will be resolved automatically and the living standard of common Balochistan will improve significantly.

Sarfraz Bugti while expressing dissatisfaction over the performance of the livestock department said that despite the annual budget of about six billion rupees of the Livestock Department and having seven thousand employees, the overall performance is not satisfactory.

Sarfraz Bugti highlighted that the livelihood of over 70 percent of the people of Balochistan is related to the livestock and agricultural sector, however, the majority of the livestock employees across the province do not perform their duties, the offices are inactive and sufficient support is not available to the livestock owners.

He pointed out that there is also no effective mechanism for evaluating the performance of employees and no attention has been given to research in line with modern requirements.

Balochistan Chief Minister emphasized for the launching of professional training of employees at all levels in the Livestock Department and directed to activation of already established research institutes.

In the meeting, the Chief Minister Balochistan on the information provided in the departmental briefing, has ordered to submit the details of the civil veterinary hospitals used by the influential personalities in the Chief Minister Secretariat with geo-tagging based.

The Chief Minister directed that the Names of all such influential people who have occupied the government buildings and property should be exposed to the public.

He expressed concerns and said that it is surprising how the government buildings have been converted into private residences and the state resources are the assets of the people, which will be ensured to be utilized properly.

Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti instructed that the loss-making government dairy and poultry farms should be run under a public-private partnership and all unnecessary expenses should be gradually reduced with aimed that to utilizing the available resources for public facilities.

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