Established 200 colleges, 19 varsities in Punjab, saved Rs682 bn: Shahbaz

LAHORE: The Punjab Chief Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, on Saturday said the PML-N would pursue a policy of coordination and consultation among the institutions instead of confrontation, if his party came into power again.

Addressing a press conference at a local hotel on Tuesday, he said given the challenges faced by the country, consultation among the institutions is necessary. “In a country where democratic institutions are weak and martial law imposed four times, the only way forward is consultation and coordination. No single institution can move the country forward in this geo-political situation and I have played my role in this regard,” Shahbaz added. Responding to a question for not being vocal enough against the confrontational mode of politics regarding certain institutions, he said the God and the history are a witness to the number of times he has openly advocated his position that confrontation is not going to solve anything.

Listing his government’s achievements in Punjab, he said is the establishment of 200 new colleges and 19 universities something ordinary.

The PML-N president said Rs 682 billion has been saved in the development projects. “Rs 682billion of the poor nation are saved. This saving in development projects is the pride of my life and every penny has been utilised judiciously. That is why other countries say proposals should be submitted in Punjab carefully because Shahbaz Sharif is sitting there,” he remarked.

When asked about Reham Khan’s book, he said he did not want to reply to the question. “One person tweeted that money has been taken and then said that I have said it without giving any evidence,” Shahbaz remarked. To a question about Kala Bagh Dam, he said the project is feasible which would tremendously benefit the economy but nothing is important than national unity, adding, “Sometimes a big sacrifice has to be made for national unity.”

“Touching the Kala Bagh Dam project without the approval of four provinces would be a cruelty with Pakistan. [On the other hand] Bhasha-Diamer Dam project will produce 4000-MW of electricity and store water and will also stop de-silting in Mangla and Tarbela,” he noted “This project will be helpful in stopping floods. If an opportunity is granted then we will construct the Bhasha Dam,” he promised, adding the PML-N government had already spent Rs 100 billion to acquire land for the project.

Shahbaz said the PML-N government has succeeded in putting the country on the road to progress despite Imran Niazi’s sit-ins, chaos, allegations, hurdles and negative politics. The PML-N government under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif successfully solved problems and brought a substantial reduction in terrorism and gave an economic boost,” he added. He said the Punjab government is using its resources to establish power projects supplying electricity to the entire country.

“In 2012, Imran said why provinces are not generating electricity after the passage of 18th Amendment. At that time PPP was in power in the Centre and there were hurdles for us to generate electricity, but when we got the chance we installed electricity projects. On the other hand, Mr Khan says he would make the country self-sufficient in electricity but he only generated minus six megawatts of electricity in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he remarked. He said the recent report of UNDP has made it clear that Punjab is far ahead of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other provinces in education and health.

Separately, former PPP MNA Tariq Shabbir Mayo called on Shahbaz and announced his decision to join the PML-N. Shahbaz welcomed Tariq Mayo and his colleagues in the party and said the pivot of PML-N’s politics is public welfare. “That is the reason, PML-N is the most popular and largest political party in the country, he added. Mayo said the PML-N is the genuine representative of masses, which has fulfilled the obligation of public service. It may be added here that Chaudhry Shabbir Mayo, father of Tariq Mayo, was elected twice as MNA on the PPP ticket.