NA-48 election: With recycled promises, Imran unveils plan of action

Says PTI will clean up corrupt CDA, correct civic issues, increase vocational training.

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan on Tuesday unveiled his vision to turn the capital into a global city if his party’s nominee Asad Umar is elected to parliament.

“We want a corruption free capital — this is what PTI wants to do for residents of Islamabad,” Khan said during his address to a large gathering at Karachi Company.

He said Asad Umar — the PTI’s candidate for NA-48 — if elected, will put the Capital Development Authority (CDA) on the right footing with moves to get rid of corrupt employees who have been a stigma on the face of the civic body. “The PTI wants to turn the green capital into the country’s economic hub like other world capitals,” he promised, while appealing to Islamabad’s residents to vote for his party man for a “Naya Pakistan.”

Before his address, Umar and PTI President Javed Hashmi addressed the supporters and made countless promises of their own.

“I will link Islamabad to the global network to make the city an economic hub by diversifying strategies as was done by Bangalore and Dhaka,” said Umar, who has been running his campaign for the last few weeks with full zeal and zest.

In a welcome change, the somewhat tired-looking Umar did not criticise his political opponents, and instead focused on his own agenda items, such as a promise to devolve power to council-level. Ironically, most of Islamabad and NA-48 does not have any elected union councils due to the city’s federal status.

Issues relating to CDA employees, clean drinking water and building of residential units were among Umar’s top priorities.

He said the PTI will introduce a new transport system in the capital, and brought up residential rent control measures as well. He added that rightsizing in the CDA will be introduced by revamping the whole civic structure to better serve the people.

“Special salary packages will be given to low-scale employees once we have a political system in place in Islamabad,” Umar told the gathering.  When it comes to promotion of education in the capital, he said the city will be a global capital of knowledge. “It is a shame that the government is cutting down on the higher education budget. The PTI aims to increase the budget four-to five-fold,” he said.

Elaborating on his plan of action, he said that he would implement institutional reforms to empower citizens similar to the ones being implemented by the PTI in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The PTI also wants to promote vocational training in Islamabad, with the party leader claiming he would increase the percentage of children receiving vocational training by between 20 per cent to 25 per cent.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 21^st, 2013.

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