Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman, Imran Khan has said that Punjab government has badly failed to deliver and its performance is pathetic. All the economic indicators, ie agriculture, energy, law and order, education and health, do not support his claims.
While addressing a press conference here on Sunday he said that the average growth in Punjab has been a mere 2.5 percent as compared to the national growth rate of 3.4 percent. Punjab, which is predominantly an agricultural, has also suffered in this sector as the growth rate in this sector indicates only 1 percent growth as compared to the national average of 3 percent. The Punjab government has been blaming the federal government for shortage in energy, using the 18th Amendment as a shield to hide their own shortcomings.
However, the PTI chief said that prior to this amendment; article 157 of the constitution gives explicit authority to the provinces to undertake energy projects. The Punjab government has not produced a single megawatt of energy in the last 4.5 years. Moreover, Khan said that the law and order situation in Punjab is also abysmal. There has been an overall increase in crimes by 12 percent, with crimes against property increasing by 37 percent, robbery by 109 percent, murder 15 percent and rape 22 percent. There has been a lot of talk about education by the Punjab government; however statistics show that 5,700 schools have been shut down during their tenure. While the population has increased manifold, the gross enrolment at primary level has gone down by 1 percent.
PTI Chairman said that spending on sectors like health and education, the entire development fund has been spent on an ill planned project, ie the Rapid Bus Transit System. The project is merely an election gimmick in order to create hype amongst the masses. Funds allocated for the Bus Transit System were more than the combined provincial budget for education and health. The project initially started with 21 billion development funds allocated for it, however, according to PTI sources, the project has been revised and it is suspected that till the time of completion, approximately 70 billion will be spent on it.
PTI Chairman said that Pakistan needed change and PTI is the first party to have stated in its economic agenda which would ensure the devolution of power and direct funding down at village level. PTI is also the first party to have stated that we will increase the tax net.