Delay in Narowal Expressway construction: LHC summons principal secretary to CM

LAHORE: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan Tuesday summoned principal secretary to Chief Minister Usman Buzdar in a matter relating to delay in construction of Narowal Expressway.

The chief justice also summoned the record of the development schemes, launched in Mianwali, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur and Jampur, the constituencies of Prime Minister Imran Khan and CM Usman Buzdar.

The chief justice was hearing a petition, filed by Shakargargh Bar Association and Minority MPA of PML-N Ramish Singh Aurora, seeking action against the government authorities for delaying the expressway project. A counsel for the petitioners told the court that the chief minister, last week, released funds of Rs26 billion for different development schemes in DG Khan.

Earlier, he contended that the government had been deliberately delaying the construction of the expressway, though a revised PC-I had been approved in April 2018. The chief justice had previously issued contempt notices to the provincial secretary planning & development, secretary communication & works and five other officials for misleading the court in the case. The officials had claimed that many surveys of the project including soil testing were yet to be conducted. However, the petitioner’s counsel presented the documents before the court, showing that all the surveys stood completed.

A provincial law officer had told the court that the development projects at a cost of above Rs10 billion were approved by the federal government.

The chief justice adjourned further hearing for Wednesday (today) and directed the law officer to also furnish record of the development funds, if any, distributed among the opposition and government members in the Punjab Assembly.