ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar on Saturday said that the past rulers misused the hard-earned taxpayers’ money in making fortunes for themselves abroad, which paved the way for their “humiliating” exit from national politics.
“Forget about London, now they have no respect in Gawalmandi [Lahore],” said Umar, in an obvious reference to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, while speaking at the ground breaking ceremony of the 10th Avenue.
He said that through an “exemplary” local government system, the education and health sectors will be governed by the people and not by the hand-picked elites, adding the mayor of Islamabad will be directly elected in the next local government elections.
“Our sole purpose to strengthen the local government system is to empower the people at the grassroots level,” he added.
He said that all the power will be devolved to the grassroots level through strengthening local government system, which will bring a revolution in political system of the country.
In Centre, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, he added, powers are being devolved to the grassroots level, while in Sindh – where Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is in power – the provincial government is keeping all the powers close to its chest.
“This is the difference between true representatives of the people, as on the one hand we are making all-out efforts to empower the masses, while in Sindh, it is completely the opposite, which is quite unfortunate,” he regretted.
The minister also said that extension of two major hospitals – the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and Polyclinic– is under way given the burden on the hospitals due to growing load of patients.
“The water scarcity issue in capital will also be resolved soon,” he added.
The minister also said that all the residents of Islamabad would get Sehat Insaaf Card by January next year, under which, they could avail medical treatment up to Rs1 million in a year.
About the rising inflation in the country, he said that it was not an issue of Pakistan alone as it was a problem all over the world.
However, he said all-out efforts are being made to control inflation.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021