Elahi slams Shehbaz’s ‘failure’ to construct new assembly building

Tells K-P speaker ex-CM maintained indifferent attitude over public services

LAHORE: Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervez Elahi has criticised former chief minister Shehbaz Sharif for his ‘failure’ to complete the construction of the new Punjab Assembly building.

“Shehbaz adopted the same indifferent attitude towards the assembly building that he did to public services like hospitals and educational institutions,” said Elahi during a meeting with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Speaker Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani in Lahore on Monday.

Elahi alleged that public welfare projects were overlooked during the tenure of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and projects started during his term as CM were scrapped.



During his visit to the Punjab Assembly, the K-P speaker expressed surprise on how the house was functioning, with there not being enough space to accommodate with such large number of lawmakers.

“New buildings of Sindh and K-P assemblies have been completed, but the construction of the new Punjab Assembly building could not be completed even after so many years,” he said.

Ghani praised the welfare projects, including Rescue 1122 Service and provision of free medicines in emergency wards, launched during Elahi’s tenure as CM.

Elahi further informed the K-P speaker that he had started construction of the new building in 2005 but after his government completed its tenure, the new administration stopped all the work.

He slammed the ‘revengeful attitude and false ego’ of Shehbaz “due to which a cardiology hospital, a burns centre and an emergency block constructed during my tenure were not made functional”.

Punjab Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari and Secretary Assembly Muhammad Khan Bhatti were also present during the meeting.