Minister for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Senator Pervaiz Rashid on Sunday said the Orange Line Metro train was a project for the common people while those critcising it themselves were enjoying lavish vehicles.
Talking to a news channel, the minister said that the project would provide a respectable and standard means of transport to common people.
“We are all availing facility of subsidised flour and therefore no one should raise objection over the subsidy being given to the poor on transport.”
The minister said the project was being criticised just for the sake of political gains and the critics would also take benefit of the facility after its completion.
He said the Punjab government was making efforts for development and prosperity of the province and other provinces should also follow the suit instead of indulging in mud-slinging.
The minister said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was focusing to provide all the basic requirements to the common man, such as health, education, transport and infrastructure.
The minister said some Rs 27 billion would be spent for providing clean drinking water to the people of Punjab while the provincial government had allocated 27 per cent of its total budget for education which was higher than the previous ones.
Billions of rupees, he said, were being spent in the sha0pe of stipends on students of government as well as private schools, while a sum of Rs 20 billion had been earmarked for the endowment fund.
Rashid said the Punjab government had hired 80,000 educators on merit through a transparent recruitment system.
He said hospitals were being established at different places in the province to provide healthcare facility to the people and Rawalpindi Cardiology Hospital was one of these examples.
In reply to a question, he said the Orange Line Metro Train project was not a part of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) but the provincial government had taken loan on soft terms for the project. He however asserted that the national heritage would be protected during the project.
