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Punjab govt’s performance: CM unable to read files even after passage of one year, says PML-N

By Our Correspondent
September 02, 2019

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-N has alleged that Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar is unable to read official files despite passage of one year in office, and the Punjab Assembly is being controlled by the federal government and important decisions are being made at Banigala [the residence of Prime Minister Imran Khan].

The main opposition party, in its critical report on one-year performance of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led coalition government in Punjab, said that new cars were purchased for the chief minister and provincial ministers, though the government lacked funds even for completion of crucial projects including the Orange Line train in Lahore.

Releasing the party report, named as the “whitepaper”, PML-N Secretary Information Azma Bukhari said on Sunday that the poor people were only told stories of poultry and livestock for bringing about prosperity in the province, but their basic needs were not fulfilled.

The report said that three provincial information ministers were changed in one year, and as many inspectors general of police (IGPs) were changed in the first three months of the first year of the government.

The ‘whitepaper’ said former chief minister, Shahbaz Sharif, the incumbent president of Pakistan Muslim League-N, used to give Rs20,000 monthly stipend to deserving artists. But, Chief Minister Usman Buzdar stopped the artist support fund, promising giving them Insaf support cards, which were never given to them.

The report said that Kaptan’s favourite IGP in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Nasir Durrani, resigned from his post before bringing reforms in the police department, while the minister for jails kept holding secret meetings with terrorists in jails. It alleged that Rs2 billion were spent in Punjab chief minister’s constituency, but not a single rupee was spent on Lahore, the provincial capital.

Azma Bukhari said despite the Supreme Court orders, the Orange Line train project in Lahore could not be completed, though its completion date was July 31, 2019. She said over 5,000 laptops, purchased by ex-CM Shahbaz Sharif for talented students were rendered waste.

The ‘whitepaper’ said Pakpattan district police officer was transferred on the orders of Khawar Manika, the ex-husband of wife of Prime Minister Imran Khan. According to the treasury MPA Ejaz Ahmed Jazi, the police inspector, who was taking Rs10,000 bribe earlier, is now charging Rs70,000 in the ‘Naya Pakistan’. Azma said the Sahiwal tragedy victim family was forced to keep mum by giving them Rs300 million and they failed to get justice.

The report said the facility of free tests and medicines in government hospitals had been stopped and Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid had turned the PKLI [Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute] into a political institution. Azma Bukhari said now Aab-e-Pak Authority bill had been passed and the Punjab governor, who is a representative of the federal government, would be its chief patron. She alleged that Jehangir Tareen had been running the chief minister for a year now, but no court had taken its notice.

Azma said the Punjab Assembly passed 15 bills, but none of them had been implemented. She said that south Punjab province had not become a reality yet, even after one year. She said the ‘Clean and Green Punjab’ project would face the same fate met by the ‘Billion tree tsunami’.

The ‘whitepaper’ said that former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif gave a Rs100 billion package to farmers, but the incumbent government rendered them penniless.

Azma Bukhari said no power project had been initiated in one-year period by the PTI government and there had been a 400 per cent increase in prices of medicines. She said that inflation had broken the back of the poor masses while those who claimed to end the VIP culture were roaming around in huge security and protocol convoys like kings.