WEBDESK: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif inaugurated an electric bus service in Sargodha, announcing that senior citizens and students will be able to travel free of charge.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, she said that in Pakistan, major projects traditionally begin in big cities and end there, but her government wants development to start from smaller cities and spread across the entire country.
Maryam Nawaz also noted that during her first visit to Sargodha’s hospitals, she was saddened to find that the city had no facility for heart patients. She added that the Sargodha Nawaz Sharif Institute of Cardiology has now begun operations and will soon be fully functional. Specialists from across Punjab have been sent to Sargodha, meaning patients no longer need to travel to Faisalabad or Lahore for treatment. She further announced that her father, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, will be requested to formally inaugurate the institute next month.
The Chief Minister highlighted the poor condition of public transport in Sargodha, saying people had long been forced to travel on broken buses, with passengers often sitting on the roofs. She stressed that women passengers, in particular, faced hardship in the absence of proper transport facilities.
Maryam Nawaz said the new modern electric buses would provide comfortable, safe, and dignified travel, with separate sections for women equipped with CCTV cameras. Special persons, women, senior citizens, and students will travel free of cost. She added that while travelling from Bhera to Sargodha previously cost Rs200, the same journey would now cost only Rs20.
She recalled that she had also launched the service in Mianwali the previous day, where people celebrated the arrival of modern buses.
Turning to the recent floods, the Punjab Chief Minister said that the province had faced one of the worst disasters in its history after India released water into Pakistan’s rivers. She said 27 cities and 5,000 villages were affected. According to her, 2.5 million people were rescued, with food and medicines supplied to thousands daily, and livestock also shifted to safe places.
Maryam Nawaz announced a historic relief package: families who lost their homes completely will receive Rs1 million each, those with partial damage will get Rs500,000, owners of large animals lost in the floods will also be given Rs500,000, while those who lost smaller animals such as goats or sheep will receive Rs50,000.
She pledged that her government would not rest until the last flood-affected person had been resettled.
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