No power outages by end of this year, claims Shahbaz

Says surplus power to be generated which can be given to Modi; other parties to be eliminated in next elections; phony politician from Lodhran got his loans written-off; performs groundbreaking of 96-km Lodhran-Khanewal dual carriageway

MULTAN: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Tuesday declared that there would be no power outages by the the end of this year. He said the PML-N government would produce so much surplus energy that it could be given to Narendra Modi.

He said the PPP did not bother tackling loadshedding as the people experienced unscheduled power outages during its rule. Loadshedding caused psychological problems to the people, he remarked.

The chief minister said the PML-N would eliminate all the political parties in the next general elections.Without naming Asif Ali Zardari, he said a political party head was trying to cheat the PML-N but he should first collect garbage from the streets of Karachi.

He was addressing a public meeting in Lodhran held in connection with the groundbreaking of Lodhran-Khanewal 96-kilometre dual carriageway to be completed at an estimated cost of Rs21 billion.

The chief minister also laid down the foundation stone of a flyover at Lodhran-Jalalpur Pirwala railway crossing on which Rs1.1 billion would be spent. He promised that he would try his best to execute the project within 12 months.

Shahbaz said people travelled in Metro Bus in a respectful way, which also helped movement of students from house to schools, colleges and universities besides providing opportunity to senior citizens.

He said the success of Metro Bus had completely surprised others, adding that the critics, who named the service as ‘Jangla Bus’, were set to launch the project in Peshawar. The chief minister also had an advice for Imran Khan, “Mr Niazi! Name your Metro Bus as ‘Changla Gali Bus’.”

Referring to PTI Secretary General Jehangir Tareen, he said a phony politician belonging to Lodhran had got written-off loans worth hundreds of million rupees but was claiming paying tax yearly. “He plundered the money of have-nots and written-off his loans. He looted resources of downtrodden classes,” said the chief minister.

Shahbaz said Nawaz Sharif had promised during the campaign for the 2013 general elections to end loadshedding and the problem would be resolved by the current year-end.Shahbaz said both PPP and PML-Q were responsible for lack of drinking water and employment opportunities; however, the PML-N was going to launch a clean drinking water project across Punjab. He said the PPP claimed enjoying the support of masses in southern Punjab but it was the PML-N which established the solar energy park in Bahawalpur and launched Metro Bus in Multan.

He said no one could share status, respect and honour of Nawaz Sharif, whose services rendered for the people of Pakistan were matchless.The chief minister said the government was spending billions of rupees on energy, health, education, clean drinking water projects to provide maximum relief to the people.

He said the prime minister had subsidised fertilisers and slashed the prices of DAP, seeds and pesticides. Rs100 billion had been allocated for disbursing mark up-free loans to small farmers, a scheme that had never been introduced in the history of Pakistan, he maintained.