Chairman PTI ruined the country’s economy during his tenure of the govt: PM Shehbaz


LAHORE, July 30 (SABAH): Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has said that the incumbent government believes in serving the nation and started various development projects across the country. PM Shehbaz Sharif lambasted the criminal negligence and inefficient performance of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) government led by former prime minister Imran Khan Niazi, saying that the country paid heavy price for their blunders and political vendetta

PM Shehbaz Sharif said this while talking to the media at the inaugural and laying the foundation stone ceremony of various development projects held in Lahore on Sunday.

He lauded the services of all provincial governments on ensuring peace and maintaining Law and order across the country.

He said the government is making efforts to provide every possible facility to the public by laying the foundation stone of the Medical city project costing 50 billion rupees. He said this project will be the state of the art project and will be according to the international standards and this project will be completed by Punjab and Federal government collectively.

He said that with the completion of 7 kilometer SL 3 will result in smooth flow of traffic and will also save time as well as Shahdara to Kala Shah Kaku Metro bus project will be completed in 5 months and this project will facilitate the teacher and the students.

He said the 1263 Megawatt power plant project inaugurated today and this project will help overcome the shortage of electricity in the country. He said the project of ring road after completion will facilitate the commuters and save their time.

He committed to make Pakistan according to the vision of Allama Iqbal and Quaid e Azam in a real sense.

He urged the youth to come forward and excel in the field of IT and Agriculture so that they can build a prosperous Pakistan. He regretted that chairman PTI ruined the country’s economy during his tenure of the government.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Imran Niazi had neglected the completion of gas-fired Haveli Bahadur Shah power plant due to his animosity with the PML-N leadership and the country had to pay an additional whopping amount of Rs 77 billion besides, its original cost of Rs74 billion at that time due to non-functionality.

He said the project was to be inaugurated during 2019 but it was stalled due to to criminal negligence of Imran Niazi and lack of interest of the previous government.

A huge amount of the nation went down the drain, causing huge loss for the poor country, he opined, adding it was one of the worst examples of PTI’s bad governance.

“Who will be held accountable for such blunder? It is the continuation of a saga of 75 years for which they were all responsible,” he quipped.

Why the judiciary did not take suo motu of such negligence! the prime minister question, and maintained that he had no intention of victimization and did not want injustice with anyone, but there should be a transparent accountability of all those responsible for such failures whether it was done in a dictatorship or democratic regime, justice should be dispensed without any victimization, he said.

With such accountabilities, the nations in the world moved forward, he added. The ceremony was attended by Punjab Governor, Caretaker Chief Minister, federal and provincial ministers, parliamentarians and the relevant authorities.

The prime minister said these were the facts which the nation must knew about the four years’ rule of Imran Niazi who played havoc with the national economy. The prime minister said that they felt ashamed while carrying begging bowl due to those failures of the past government.

“It was a huge mishap of our history (PTI’s government) which is already strewn with such unpleasant incidents. If we do not change the attitude, we cannot aspire to achieve anything,” he regretted.

Citing example of China, he said it had now become the world’s second largest economy.

Japan and Germany bounced back economically from the destruction of World Wars owing to commitment, devotion and determination, he added.

“Let us gird up loins and work hard for the country’s progress as peeping into past would be useless. If they failed, the public will not forget them. Let us wash away the blots of the past,” the prime minister stressed.

He also expressed the resolve to revive country’s economy by eliminating poverty and unemployment.

The prime minister also regretted that due to PTI’s sits in at D-Chowk during 2014, President Xi’s visit to Pakistan was postponed.

He said under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the PML-N government had initiated Haveli and Baloki power plants with power generation of 1200 MW each, besides, 1150 MW Bhikki project in Punjab.

The prime minister, on the occasion, said the Medical City project would be completed with all the allied facilities and would be at par with the world’s renowned health projects like the PKLI was ranked best among the Asia’s top institutes.

He said the federal and provincial governments would jointly execute the project.

About the 8km SL-3 Lahore Ring Road, the prime minister said the one part of the ring road was left out, adding now its completion would facilitate huge number of commuters by removing the vehicular congestion.

The extension of Metro bus project would serve thousands of commuters on daily basis, he added and directed for its completion within three months.

Punjab Governor Engineer Mian Muhammad Balighur Rehman, Caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi and other high officials were also present in the ceremony.

Meanwhile Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has commended all federal and provincial departments and law enforcement agencies (LEAs) for ensuring peace and order on Youm-e-Ashur.

In a statement on Sunday, he expressed gratitude that Ashura passed peacefully without any untoward incident due to excellent security measures.

The Prime Minister said all federal and provincial departments and law enforcement agencies worked in close cooperation to ensure security during Muharram.

He congratulated Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan, all provincial interior ministers, federal and provincial authorities and police officers and jawans who remained on duty round the clock.