PTI issues white paper on governance in Punjab

LAHORE: Former organiser PTI Ch Sarwar has issued a white paper on the state of governance and human rights in Punjab.

In the paper issued on Tuesday, Sarwar deplored the worst governance in the province and said every segment of society was protesting against the government policies which were big question mark on the so-called experienced team of the PML-N. Quoting statistics from the white paper, he said more than 10,000 incidents of crime were reported from the province every day including 80 casualties daily.

In the past few months, 113 persons including women committed suicides due to poverty, inflation, unemployment and other similar reasons while more than 170 children were kidnapped from the capital city Lahore alone in this period. He stated that nearly 40,000 absconders were roaming free in the province as the police had failed to arrest them.

Talking about the health sector, he revealed, there was one bed for two to three patients in the major healthcare establishments like Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore General Hospital, Mayo Hospital and Jinnah Hospital while the province had no full time health minister.

The white paper stated that per kg price of sugar rose up to eight rupees while the prices of fruits and vegetables has also registered surge. More than 16 people were electrocuted in Lahore due to open electricity wires while the power outages for ten to twelve hours per day were a norm throughout the province. The mega corruption scandals have become hallmark of the ruling party.

It also said Mall Road has become “Ehtejaj Road” as the government was failing the province badly in every sector. The data collected from the media reports revealed that more than a thousand protests were lodged during one month period while 37 people lost their lives due to lack of basic facilities in hospitals and nine thousand women died due to pregnancy related problems. The government and the Drug Regulatory Authority have also failed in curbing the menace of spurious drugs in the markets which claim several innocent lives.

The total volume of loans on Punjab has increased from 500 billion while the basic amenities like clean drinking water, law and order, electricity, education and health were missing or out of reach for the public. The government has failed to launch Ashiana Housing Scheme and could not hold its ballot in July despite repeated deadlines.

The white paper revealed that the government was performing poorly in the education sector as well. More than one crore children were still out of schools and two million youth were forced to become labourers instead of students. The law and order has deteriorated so much that nobody is safe in the province especially in Lahore where more than 70 incidents of rape and sexual abuse were reported in one month. The law enforcement agencies were unable to control the rate of crime throughout the province.

In these times of worst governance, the government was focusing on mega projects like Orange Train instead of providing relief in health and education sectors, said Sarwar in the white paper.