–PML-N leader says it is PTI’s propaganda
LAHORE: The pace of development projects has slowed down almost immediately in NA-120 after Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Kulsoom Nawaz secured the Member of National Assembly (MNA) seat in the constituency.
Shoaib Ahmed, who runs a pan-cigarette shop on Mohni Road, complained that politicians seldom visited the constituency after winning the elections from the area.
“The street where I live was dug up two days before elections, but not a single government official has set foot in the area to complete the project after by-polls concluded on Sept 17,” he added.
Shoaib also said, “Punjab Food Minister Bilal Yasin promised to fix the street lights in the area before elections but did not fulfill his promise after his party candidate won the by-polls.” He further said that sewage-related projects in the area had also been ignored by politicians belonging to the constituency.
Similarly, Akram, a resident of Islampura, said that patch work on the road started here before the by-polls but pace of work had slowed down ever since. “The contractor is least interested in completing the project after elections since elected members have not turned up to monitor the ongoing work,” he added.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Yasmin Rashid, who contested the NA-120 seat against Kulsoom Nawaz, said that development work in the area was merely a drama to mislead the public of the constituency. “If the ruling PML-N has not delivered in NA-120 in the past 30 years, how can they develop the entire area in such a short span of time?”, she questioned.
On the other hand, PML-N leader Hafiz Nauman, who was a covering candidate for Kulsoom Nawaz in the by-polls, said that every effort was being made to improve the condition of roads, sewage and sanitation, water supply and dilapidated buildings of educational facilities and medical dispensaries in the constituency.
He rejected the impression that development work had slowed down in the constituency after the victory of Kulsoom Nawaz, saying that it was no more than propaganda launched by the PTI leadership. “The PTI leadership, including Imran Khan, believe in politics of accusations. When we started development work in the constituency, they accused us of wooing voters. Now they are doing the opposite,” he added.
According to the PML-N leader, uplift schemes in the constituency were part of the development strategy for the fiscal year 2017-18 and they had nothing to do with the by-polls from the beginning.”
Though NA-120 is a traditional stronghold of the PML-N, yet the living conditions in the area have not improved as poor infrastructure and lack of basic amenities of life had been bothering the locals since long.
Earlier, PML-N’s Kulsoom Nawaz had won the NA-120 constituency by defeating PTI’s Dr Yasmin Rashid in a tough by-election contest that took place in Lahore on September 17. Kulsoom obtained 61,572 votes while Yasmin Rashid secured 48,381 votes.
The seat was vacated after former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by the Supreme Court in its July 28 judgment in the Panama Papers case.
Presently, Kulsoom Nawaz is under-treatment in London for throat-cancer and her family, including the ousted premier and Maryam Nawaz, are accompanying her.
