LAHORE: PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has criticised the Rs165 billion Orange Metro Train Line project, saying it shows the Shahbaz Sharif government in Punjab has set its priorities wrong.

“The government has forgotten the real problems of the people and is spending huge funds on a colourful train project and roads. It is not concerned about the plight of the masses who are finding it hard to make both ends meet,” he said at a mass wedding ceremony organised by the Ameer Begum Trust at the Bilawal House here on Sunday.

The other opposition parties, including the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, PML-Q and Jamaat-i-Islami, and civil society organisations have also opposed the project. The Punjab government has taken Rs162bn loan from China on ‘soft terms’ for the project.

Reminding the PML-N government of the people’s basic needs — food, clothes, shelter, education and health — the PPP chief said the rulers’ focus was not on these issues rather they were spending their energy on prolonging their rule for which they had divided the nation in the name of language, sect and community. Because of such policies the gap between the poor and the rich was widening, he said.

“On the contrary has PPP always united the people. We believe that people are the source of power,” he said. Referring to the Sharifs, he said that the dictator’s protégés had become strong.

The PPP chairman, who has been advised by his party’s leaders in Punjab to take on the prime minister and the chief minister, said joblessness was on the rise in the province and people were getting nothing out of schemes like ‘Danish Schools’ and ‘Sasti Roti’.

“Hospitals in Punjab are without medicines but the rulers are only benefiting their friends (in various projects),” he said.

He suggested the government spend money on programmes related to the welfare of people, like the Benazir Income Support Programme, Wasila-i-Haq, Wasila-i-Sehat and Bibi Sasti Bastian.

He complained that the PML-N government had fixed its plaques on several welfare projects launched by the PPP.

The PPP chief chided the government for imposing Rs40bn taxes without parliament’s approval.

“Today tomato and banana are being imported. Substandard wheat is being imported which is an injustice to our farmers. During the PPP’s rule, wheat was exported.”

Later, Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakis­tan president Ejaz Hashmi called on the PPP chairman and advi­sed him to focus on Punjab like his mother Benazir and grandfather Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2016