LAHORE: Pakistan Tehree-e-Insaf leader and former Punjab governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar released a white paper on state of governance and human rights in Punjab on Tuesday.
Sarwar deplored the worst governance in the province and said that every segment of society was protesting against the government policies which were big question mark on the so-called experienced team of Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N).
While quoting the statistics from the white paper, he said that more than ten thousand incidents of crime were reported from the province every day including 80 casualties daily, while, 113 persons including women committed suicides due to poverty, inflation, unemployment and other similar reasons while more than 170 children were kidnapped from the capital city Lahore alone in this period, said a press release issued on Tuesday.
He further stated that nearly 40,000 absconders were roaming free in the province as the police had failed to arrest them. The law and order has deteriorated so much that nobody is safe in the province especially in Lahore where more than 70 incidents of rape and sexual abuse were reported in one month.
More than 16 people were electrocuted in Lahore due to open electricity wires while the power outages for ten to twelve hours per day were a norm throughout the province.
Talking about the health sector, he revealed, there was one bed for two to three patients in the major health care establishments like Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore General Hospital, Mayo Hospital and Jinnah Hospital while the province had no full time health minister. The price of sugar rose up to eight rupees per kilogram while the prices of fruits and vegetables has also registered surge. The mega corruption scandals have become hallmark of the ruling party.
He said the Mall Road of Lahore has become “Ehtejaj Road” as the government was failing the province badly in every sector. The data collected from media reports revealed that more than a thousand protests were lodged during one month period while 37 people lost their lives due to lack of basic facilities in the hospitals and nine thousand women died due to pregnancy related problems. The government and the Drug Regulatory Authority have also failed in curbing the menace of spurious drugs in the markets which claim several innocent lives.
The total volume of loans on Punjab has increased from 500 billion while the basic amenities like clean drinking water, law and order, electricity, education and health were missing or out of reach for the public. The government has also failed to launch Ashiana Housing Scheme and could not hold its ballot in July despite repeated deadlines.
The white paper issued by Chaudhry Sarwar further revealed that the government was performing poorly in the education sector as well. More than one crore children were still out of schools and two million youth were forced to become laborers instead of students.
In these times of worst governance, the government was focusing on mega projects like Orange Train instead of providing relief in health and education sectors. Such mega projects were white elephants draining the provincial resources, Chaudhry Sarwar said.
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