The Punjab bureaucracy has gone “dormant” as the general elections approach while the entire focus has shifted towards dispensing with the already started projects with no new plan in sight, Pakistan Today has learnt. Top bureaucrats administrating the country’s largest province revealed that all efforts were being diverted towards completion of continuing schemes and development projects as the second quarter of the fifth and the last fiscal year of the incumbent regime nears its end.
“People have a short term memory and for the very reason the government launches its projects in the last year before elections so that the memory still remains fresh in peoples’ minds while they cast their votes. But after the second quarter no new project is launched because no one knows who is going to come into power next,” the secretary of an administrative department on the condition of anonymity told Pakistan Today.
The government this year launched various schemes in the Punjab province especially to woo the youth, from among which a major scheme was the laptop distribution scheme. Provision of yellow cabs, solar lamps, and green tractors were among other projects launched by the provincial government. “Such projects do not require much work as the secretary concerned has to advertize the tender, finalize the bidding and then complete the distribution process according to the set timetable. In this case the higher education, energy and agriculture departments secretaries would just want to hand out even the last laptop or tractor instead of initiating a new project,” another senior Punjab bureaucrat said.
Moreover, the most important project launched by the Punjab government this year was the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), which had been considered very close to the Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Mian Shahbaz Sharif’s heart from among the many development projects launched by the Punjab government. A major portion of attention and focus of the entire administration was shifted towards the completion of the metro bus project which was said to be in the final stages of completion. The CM’s advisor on transport Khawaja Hasan said the government was using its full muscle in order to complete this project while terming it as a gift for the masses.
Other projects which were on the mind of the high-ups included a few projects of the health department including construction of 410-bedded hospital in Bahawalpur and another in Shahdara Town.
