The Punjab government has put all development activity in the province on a fast-track to complete maximum number of projects before Dr Tahirul Qadri’s long march on January 14, Pakistan Today has learnt.
According to details, all administrative secretaries have received instructions to the development wings to complete a maximum number of development schemes in the province by January 10.
The officers concerned, on the condition of anonymity, said “verbal” instruction has been passed on in this regard and the work has already been expedited.
“The orders have set the alarm bells ringing in the development wing because the deadline is only a week away. The matter seems so urgent that officials have been instructed to distribute concerned letters and documents by-hand and get the receiving instead of dispatching the mail the usual way,” an official from the development wing of the health department told Pakistan Today.
Funds are also being re-appropriated from the smaller schemes to make them available for those nearing completion as part of the same exercise, the official said, adding that it could also affect development work because a week had been spent in official correspondence alone.
Various development schemes of the Punjab government are nearing completion. Hospitals in Shahdara and Bahawalpur and many other colleges are nearing completion besides the laptop and solar lamps distribution.
Sources on good authority however revealed that the announcement of the long march by Dr Tahirul Qadri has created uncertainty among the ranks of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) about the future of their government in the Punjab.
“The decision is rooted in the hope for having a maximum number of inauguration plates in case something untoward happens after the long march leaving hundreds of big and small projects incomplete, which will definitely have a political fallout as well,” a senior official on the condition of anonymity said.
Punjab government’s Spokesman Senator Pervaiz Rasheed, however, said setting a deadline for project completion is independent of Qadri’s long march.
“The government had already set the January deadline for completion of development projects because we don’t want to leave a graveyard of incomplete schemes as was leftover by the previous regime,” he said. He further said, “It is our right to fight both the PTI and Dr Qadri politically but policy decisions are formed independent of them and in public interest”.
The January 25 inaugural date for the BRTS was announced before the announcement of the long march, he added.
