Prime Minister Imran Khan Assures Swift Process For Provisional Provincial Status To GB As New Govt Formed

Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday said that as new Gilgit-Baltistan government was in place, the federal government would immediately launch work to grant it provisional provincial status for its uplift at par with other provinces

GILGIT (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Dec, 2020 ) :Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday said that as new Gilgit-Baltistan government was in place, the Federal government would immediately launch work to grant it provisional provincial status for its uplift at par with other provinces.

Addressing the newly sworn in cabinet members, the prime minister said an exclusive committee would be tasked to work out the formalities for the provisional provincial status on timeline-basis that would meet the longstanding demand of the people.

The ceremony was attended by Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan Ali Amin Gandapur, GB Governor Raja Jalal Hussain Maqpoon and newly elected Chief Minister Barrister Khalid Khursheed.

After national anthem and recitation of Quranic verses, the GB governor administered the oath to the 12-member cabinet.

The prime minister while congratulating the new GB government, hoped that they would set new precedents and standards of public service there to win the people's hearts as well as their prayers.

He resolved that the PTI government would put the GB region on a development course, that would change people's lives altogether through multiple projects in tourism, power, economic and health projects.

Reiterating his vision of Madinah State model for Pakistan by uplifting the poor, he announced to launch anti-poverty Ehsaas Programme in GB, besides giving Sehat Insaf Card of Rs 10 million health insurance cover, to entire GB population.

The prime minister said his government's another major focus would be the exploitation of immense tourism potential of GB which attracted huge number of local and foreign tourists, particularly in summer.

He said the government would extend easy loans to the people to build guest rooms to accommodate tourists and help build economy on which the federal government would update the chief minister in detail.

Moreover, he said the federal government was also in talks with an Austrian company, specialized in developing skiing resorts, which had shown interest in GB observing that the area could host a skiing games for expanded time due to prolonged snow cover there, contrary to other regions. In such a case, tourism would also flourish even in the winter season, he added.

The prime minister said a 250-bed hospital in Skardu would be completed soon that would be further expanded as per local requirements.

He said considering huge hydro power potential in GB, two hydro power plants were in progress, two more were in pipeline and another two had been approved for total power generation of 300MW to meet whole GB needs. Besides, micro hydel power stations would also be installed in villages on the model of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he added.

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