Opposition says govt not doing enough

Shahbaz Sharif is rehearsing to play prime minister, says opposition leader.

LAHORE:

Leader of Opposition in the provincial assembly Mian Mehmoodul Rashid on Wednesday issued a white paper on the completion of 100 days of the government.

Addressing a press conference HERE, he said Shahbaz Sharif was rehearsing to play prime minister.

He said that Sharif was not showing interest in governance and his son MNA Hamza Shahbaz Sharif was using the helicopters reserved for the chief minister.

He said the government had issued Rs8 million to each MPA for development projects in their constituencies. He said this was a ruse to rig the local government election.

He said the government had yet to appoint parliamentary secretaries and standing committees of the PA to avoid questions about the performance of the Punjab government.

He said in its first 100 days, the government had failed to deliver. He said the crime rate had doubled over the last few months.

Rashid said flour price had risen by 26 per cent, the price of rice by 23 per cent, potatoes by 50 per cent, of onions by 52 per cent, of pulses by 28 per cent, and of eggs 39 by per cent. He said there was no mechanism in place to check inflation.

He said billions of rupees were being spent on police but it had completely failed to arrest the rapists of the rape of the five-year-old girl. He said 450 rape cases had been reported in the last two and half years but no action had been taken.

He said signing agreements with other countries was not a permanent solution to the energy crisis. He called on the government to do more.

He said the government had failed to get Punjab its due share of water.

He said about 30.5 million farmers from south Punjab were protesting over water distribution.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th, 2013.