LAHORE: The PML-N lawmakers have questioned the ‘silence of institutions’ on the corruption of the PTI government.

“Accountability is only for the opposition while the institutions are silent over the government’s mega corruption scams,” PML-N lawmaker Rana Mashhood said at a presser here on Thursday.

He said the country had been trapped in huge debts because of bad governance and inefficient policies of the PTI government. He said the current account deficit was touching six per cent. He said Usman Buzdar had become the chief minister of Punjab on ‘parchi’ and good governance was elusive in the province.

“Bad governance of the Buzdar administration is reflected from the constant change in bureaucracy. During the last three years the fifth chief secretary and seventh IG in Punjab has changed. Similarly, the Punjab government has ended the university grants for 7,000 students depriving them of an opportunity to study abroad on merit,” Mashhood said.

The inept government, he said, had increased the rates of flour and sugar to Rs70 and Rs125 per kg, respectively, making the lives of the masses miserable.

Awais Leghari said the government had constantly been lying on the south Punjab province and secretariat. “It has yet to provide building to the south Punjab secretariat besides there has been no implementation on the 32 per cent quota for south Punjab,” he deplored.

Leghari said for the last six months tubewell connection was not given to the farmers. The government had also increased the prices of pesticides, he lamented and reminded the chief minister to improve the law and order situation in his (Buzdar) hometown (DG Khan).

Khwaja Imran Nazir said the government had destroyed the health sector as 65,000 doctors were jobless. “This government could not make a single policy for acquiring medicines,” he said.

Khwaja Salman Rafique said the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau’s performance had worsened as its budget had been cut by 40 per cent. The city was infested with beggar children and the bureau had turned a blind eye towards it, he added.

He questioned utilisation of foreign funding for the construction of new hospital buildings in Gujranwala and Sahiwal.

Raheela Khadim Hussain said during the three-year tenure of the PTI government there had been an increase in women assault cases in the province.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2021