Financial mismanagement, bad governance: leader of Opposition issues 'White Paper' on Punjab government

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 the massive financial mismanagement and bad governance had pushed the province back by 10 years.
He said Punjab government had a heavy burden of Rs 452 billion loans on its shoulders and it had 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 be paid back," he added.
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 instead the financial condition of the province was getting worse day by day." He dilated that provincial government kept taking loans which had sent back the province by 10 years and each year a deficit budget had been presented proving that the financial conditions of the province were becoming from bad to worse.
Giving details of the White Paper in his chambers here on Tuesday, he said Punjab government was 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 if the government could generate funds on its own for metro bus service in three cities of the province then why could it not generate funds from its own resources to improve the declining living standard of the poor people of the province.
He said when Shahbaz Sharif took over the reins of the province he had promised that he would not rely on foreign loans and would not leave back a legacy of loans for the next generations to pay back, but the amount of loans, he had taken and continued to take, had already sold every hair on the bodies of our next generations. Mahmoodur Rashid said no matter how soft the terms of repaying back the loan were and how long the duration period of repaying the loans was, but he added "the fact remains that our many next generations will have to live under the heavy burden of loans which they have to pay back."
He said the provincial government did not want to learn from the past mistakes it had committed and continued 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."
Opposition leader said had funds be used to improve the agriculture sector, industrial growth and power generation in the province there would have been improvement in the living standard of the people of the province. He said with better financial planning of funds province would not have been forced to import potatoes, fruits and other vegetables.
He said the provincial government had 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," he added. Mian Mahmoodur Rashid feared that Sahiwal Coal Power Project and the Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park would also end up like the bogus Nandipur Power Project. He said billions of rupees had already been wasted but the Punjab government was moving in the same direction as in the past and would continue to waste public money on irrelevant projects. He demanded that those issues must be debated in the Provincial Assembly and a day should be kept to discuss the financial mismanagement of the Punjab government.