Leader of the Opposition issues a White Paper against Punjab Government

Lahore: The Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Mian Mahmoodur Rashid has issued a White Paper on the Financial Mismanagement and bad governance of the Punjab Government which has now been in power for over six years.

He said that the massive financial mismanagement and bad governance has pushed back the province by 10 years. He Punjab has a heavy burden of Rs 452 billion loans on its shoulders and to top that the Punjab Government has further applied for more loans amounting to Rs 385 billion. These loans and the new ones have and will add to the miseries of the province, especially when the mark-up and loans have to paid back. He said all this has pushed back the province by ten years.

Mian Mahmoodur Rashid said that from 2008, Punjab was getting an additional 100 billion apart from what it was getting from the National Finance Commission. The additional 100 billion has not helped the province and instead the financial condition of the province was getting worse day by day. The government kept taking loans which has not only added to the miseries of the province but has also sent back the province by ten years and each year a deficit budget has been presented proving that the financial conditions of the province are getting from bad to worse.

Giving details of the White Paper in his chambers here Tuesday he said that the Punjab Government is taking fresh loans worth Rs. 385 billion from the international financial institutions like Asian Development Bank and $35 million from the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

The Opposition leader said that if the government can generate funds on its own for metro bus service in three cities of the province than why can it not generate funds from its own resources to improve the declining living standard of the poor people of the province and why does it have to rely on foreign loans. He said that when Mian Shahbaz Sharif took over the reins of the province he had promised that he will not rely on foreign loans and will not leave back a legacy of loans for the next generations to pay back. But the amount of loans he has taken and continues to take have already sold every hair on the bodies of our several next generation that have yet to come in this world.

Mian Mahmoodur Rashid said no matter how soft the terms of repaying back the loan are and does not matter how long the duration period of repaying the loans is but the fact is that several next generation will have to live under the heavy burden of loans which they have to pay back and the credit of these loans will ly on the shoulders of the present government. He said the provincial government is following in the footsteps of the federal government which is also taking massive loans and the whole nation will have to suffer for their blunders.

He said the provincial government does not want to learn from the past blunders it has committed and continues to invest and waste money on useless and failed projects like Yellow Cab scheme, Ashyania Houses, sasti roti, food support programme, laptop scheme, green tractor scheme, mobile health units, solar lamp and Danish Schools. It has already wasted over Rs 100 billion on such useless projects. He questioned that how have these projects improved the living standard of the people and how have the education and health sectors improved due to these projects? How much has the inflation lowered and how many employment chances have these projects created?

He said had these funds been used to improve the agriculture sector, industrial growth and power generation the province would have shown improvement in the living standard of the people of the province. He said we would not have been forced to import potatoes, fruits and other vegetables had the provincial funds been utilized in a better and sane manner.

The opposition leader said that the provincial government has failed to introduce any reforms for the betterment of the people. Corruption, tax evasion, departmental corruption goes on unabated and there are no check and balances in place to put the lid on all these social ills. Mian Mahmoodur Rashid feared that the Sahiwal Coal Power Project and the Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park will also end up like the bogus Nandipur Power Project. He said billions have already been wasted and the Punjab Government is moving in the same direction as it was in the past and will continue to waste public money on irrelevant projects. He demanded that these issues must be debated in the provincial assembly and a day should to devoted to discuss the financial mismanagement of the Punjab Government.