Performance in office: Govt has failed to deliver in 25 sectors, says Sarwar

Tehreek-i-Insaf issues ‘fact sheet’ accusing government of bad governance

LAHORE:

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) issued a fact sheet on Monday identifying 25 areas where it claimed the government had failed to deliver.

PTI provincial organiser Chauhdry Sarwar issued the document titled Failed Government, Failed Policies, listing federal and provincial governments’ failure in energy, education, health and governance among other sectors. Sarwar demanded that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) fulfil the promises made during the 2013 election campaign. He said the party had announced that it would end energy shortages, inflation and unemployment. Instead, he said, the country had been turned into a masailistan [the land of problems].

Sarwar said the federal government had yet to appoint a foreign minister and there was no health minister in the Punjab. Around 13 million children in the province were out of schools, he said. “More than 18 per cent schools across the province lack basic facilities.”

Sarwar said the number of dengue patients in the province had risen to 2,000. “More than 53 per cent people live below the poverty line. Lives and property of people are not safe in the Punjab owing to the poor security situation. The government also failed to maintain order during the local government elections.” The PTI leader claimed that the elections were not transparent.

Sarwar said that Pakistan Army and the Supreme Court had also asked the federal government to improve governance. “The government had promised that it would end corruption but irregularities involving Rs300 billion are being reported annually,” he said.

Commenting on the Water and Power Development Authority’s performance, Sarwar said electricity theft worth billions of rupees had been reported last year. He said the Nandipur Power Project, the Quaid-i-Azam Solar Power Park the Metro Bus were plagued with corruption.

About the security situation, Sarwar said around 300,000 criminal cases were reported in the province each month. “Nearly 53,000 proclaimed offenders are roaming free across the province. As many as 20 political workers have been killed during the local government elections.”

Sarwar said farmers were suffering owing to poor policies. “They are unable to get a fair price for their crops,” he said. The government has not fulfilled its promises to government employees, he said. “They are left with no option but to resort to protest demonstrations,” the PTI leader said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st, 2015.