–Sheikh Rasheed, Murad Saeed, Shehryar Afridi, Zulfi Bukhari among ‘top 10’ performers; Azam Swati, allies Khalid Maqbool, Fehmida Mirza ‘fail’ to meet targets
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday chaired a meeting to review the government’s achievements in the first 100 days as he received a performance report of different ministries, outlining “feats and failures” of the ministers during the first three-month governance.
During the meeting, PM Khan said that his government was moving in the right direction and would achieve all its goals. He vowed to fulfill every single promise made to the nation, asserting that the benefits of the reforms will soon reach the public.
The PM was briefed on the much-touted austerity campaign, Naya Pakistan Housing Project, institutional reforms, performance of task forces, implementation of cabinet decisions, besides the performance of ministers and their respective ministries, including communication, information, housing, railways, law, environmental change, and privatisation.
The meeting was attended by Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, PM’s Special Assistant for Political Affairs Naeemul Haque, Chief Secretary Azam Khan, PM’s Adviser on Establishment Arbab Shehzad, Senator Faisal Javed, Iftikhar Durrani among other PTI leaders.
MINISTERS’ PERFORMANCE:
According to the report submitted to the premier, Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed and Minister of State for Communications Murad Saeed appeared to be having a tough contest in terms of edging past one another.
The report says that both the ministers timely completed their 100-day tasks. The ministry headed by Rasheed reportedly registered an income of more than Rs2 billion, while Murad Saeed’s ministry saw an addition of Rs3bn to the revenue in the first 100 days in office.
Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda also achieved the set targets, including stopping widespread water theft and reported progress on Dasu Dam construction. One of Vawda’s accomplishments is described as his efforts to convince provinces to install telemeters to contain water pilferage.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi is also said to have accomplished targets related to his ministry.
PM’s Special Assistant on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Zulfiqar Bukhari, who is under fire for being a dual national, is also featured among the list of top 10 performers whereas Interior Minister Shehryar Khan Afridi has achieved his targets besides taking on his own 44 initiatives to make the interior division and all its subordinate departments public-friendly.
Minister for Law Farogh Naseem also sent his report to the prime minister, stating accomplishment of all 100-day targets set by his ministry.
SOME FAIL:
However, a number of ministers, mostly belonging to allied parties, failed to achieve the desired results.
Prominent among them is the Minister for Science and Technology Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui who could not start any major project related to tech, the report said.
Similarly, Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Fehmida Mirza, Federal Minister for Science and Technology Azam Swati and Federal Minister for Privatization Muhammadmian Soomro couldn’t make a significant mark in first 100 days.
PM Imran had unveiled his 100-day plan two months before the general elections on May 20. Moreover, the PTI-led government had recently launched a website for a public to know progress about the PTI’s 100-day agenda.
The website has diverse categories with each of them underlining government progress on the area mentioned. The website sections are named: transform governance; revolutionise social services; accountability; empowerment at grassroots level; depoliticisation of police; easy access to justice; civil services reforms; strengthening the federation and agriculture uplift among others.
