Shehbaz says instead of focusing on progress, office of Punjab ‘puppet CM’ misused for political manoeuvrings at federal level n Directs for speedy completion of development projects.

 LAHORE   -   Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday accused the previous gov­ernment of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf of deliberately hindering the pace of development projects in Punjab initi­ated by the PML-N government.

“Instead of initiating new uplift projects, the earlier ones initiated by the PML-N government were put to a halt. The people of the province were avenged for their support to the PML-N,” the prime minister ob­served during a high-level meeting held here yesterday to review the on­going public welfare and other pro­posed projects.

The meeting was attended by Care­taker Punjab Chief Minister Syed Mohsin Naqvi, PM’s Advisor Ahad Khan Cheema and federal and pro­vincial authorities, PM Office Media Wing said in a press release.

The meeting was given a detailed briefing over the construction work on Imamia Colony Flyover project. The prime minister directed for ear­ly completion of the project for the public use. Addressing the partici­pants, the prime minister said that during the last four years of the pre­vious government, the affairs of the province were handed over to an in­competent and puppet chief minis­ter. “Instead of focusing on the prog­ress of the province, the office of the chief minister was misused for polit­ical manoeuvring at the federal lev­el”, he alleged.

The prime minister further ob­served that these public welfare-ori­ented projects which should have been completed timely to alleviate public woes, continued to hit the snags for years during the previous government’s tenure. He directed the early completion of all such on­going projects. The meeting was fur­ther briefed about the proposed La­hore-Sialkot motorway link road to facilitate the people of Gujranwala.

The prime minister directed the chief minister to constitute a three-member committee in this re­gard that would give a detailed brief­ing over the project in the next meet­ing. Later, the prime minister visited the under-construction Lahore bridge and CBD underpass to review the pace of work and di­rected for fast-paced comple­tion.During his visit to the con­struction site of Lahore bridge, the prime minister was apprised that the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) project worth Rs1712 million was started in the year 2021 but delayed for two years due to the non-issu­ance of no objection certificate.

The prime minister expressed his displeasure over the pace of work and the shutdown pro­gramme by the LESCO.

The prime minister direct­ed for initiation of legal action against the official concerned for the delay and desired com­pletion of the process in two weeks. The officials were given one month time to complete the construction work instead of a period of two months.

The prime minister was ac­companied by Caretaker Chief Minister Punjab Syed Mohsin Naqvi, chief secretary and oth­er senior officials.

The prime minister also visit­ed CBD underpass and termed the delay unfair.

He questioned the hiring of third-party for validation and directed the appointment of a renowned third party at the cost of a construction company.

The prime minister directed for expeditious completion of the project by advising the rel­evant officials to give special in­centives to the workforce.

While chairing a high-lev­el meeting here, Prime Minis­ter Shehbaz Sharif authorized a major crackdown against smuggling and hoarding of sugar and profiteering.

He expressed strong displea­sure on the reports of illegal profiteering and smuggling of sugar. Caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Special Assistant to Prime Minister Ahad Chee­ma, Chief Secretary Punjab, Sec­retary Food Punjab, Inspector General Police Punjab and other officials attended the meeting.

The PM decided to summon a high-level meeting in Islam­abad today to finalize measures to stop the smuggling.

During the meeting, a strate­gy would be formed for a coun­trywide action to eradicate the smuggling of sugar and other items. Shehbaz Sharif direct­ed that the elements involved in profiteering and hoarding should be dealt with iron hands and given exemplary punish­ment.He said that people could not be left at the mercy of smug­glers, profiteers and hoarders. “We will take action against those who are causing difficul­ties for the people.”

He instructed Punjab Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi to take effective steps and monitor the situation in order to control the price of sugar in the province. He said the provincial govern­ment should devise a method to provide at a standard price the sugar confiscated from smug­glers and hoarders.

The prime minister also in­structed the chief minister to hold a meeting with sugar mill owners to take steps with them to stop the prices of sugar from rising. He also held a meeting on the issue last week in Islam­abad and measures taken by him brought the price of sugar to Rs92 per kilogram.