‘All economic growth claims proved false’

LAHORE

PML-Q leader and former deputy prime minister Ch Pervaiz Elahi has said every claim of the government about economic growth has proved false and all economic indicators are going against it. 

Ch Pervaiz Elahi said this while talking to the party leaders and journalists at his residence on Tuesday. 

“During our government in Punjab 10 million people had crossed poverty line and 7000,000 got employment in five years. Foreign debt in their tenure has already doubled to the record level of 66 billion dollars whereas during our tenure Pakistan was the only Asian country which had succeeded in getting out of shackles of the World Bank and said good bye to it on repaying all its debt but today every Pakistani is under debt of Rs 1.02 lakh, Nawaz Sharif has even placed coming generations of Pakistan under debt. Even foreign investment has been reduced to half as compared to our tenure and last year only 2.6 billion dollar foreign investment was made, according to the Economic Survey Report growth rate of present govt is only 4.2 per cent which was 7.8 per cent in 2007, today dollar is Rs 106 whereas it was Rs 61 in 2007, poverty and unemployment have increased so much that the govt has stopped publishing ratio in the Economic Survey Report which was 60 per cent in Survey Report 2014 and was even less than 20 per cent in 2007 during our tenure,” the PML-Q leader said. 

Responding to a question regarding oil prices, Ch Pervaiz Elahi said: “During our tenure oil prices in the international had risen by record level but we kept price hike under control, today despite record reduction in oil prices price hike is increasing further, as such the govt claim is just a white lie that economic indicators are going in its favour. 

Describing Health Card scheme as a bigger drama than Mobile Heath Unit, Ch Parvez Elahi questioned as to where are Mobile Health Unit, Sasti Roti and other show off schemes. He said out of Rs 24 billion allocated to health sector in the provincial budget only Rs 3 billion have been spent so far and Lahore High Court remarks are that the Punjab Govt is not paying any attention to health sector, entire funds are being spent on Orange Line Train Project. 

All mega health sector projects which we had started have been scrapped, about four thousand patients have expired due to Wazirabad Cardiology Hospital being continuously non-functional, free medicines are not being provided in govt hospitals. So much so that donations are being asked for 1122, Shahbaz Sharif has not held any meeting regarding recue service after 2010, heart patients get a one-year late date Punjab Institute of Cardiology, four children are lying on one bed in Children Hospital, neither incubators nor ventilators are there, Pervaiz Elahi said. 

Describing the PML-Q reorganisation campaign as quite satisfactory, Ch Pervaiz Elahi said that circumstances are changing speedily, people will return to the fold of PML with motorway speed. PML-Q president and former prime minister Ch Shujaat Hussain has felicitated Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy on winning the Oscar Award for her documentary “A girl in the river” and said this is a great honour for entire Pakistani nation and also for Ch Pervaiz Elahi’s established Rescue 1122. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy on winning the Oscar Award admitted the services of Rescue 1122 and said that this documentary was made on the real incident of a girl of district Hafizabad who was shot to murder for honour and thrown in the river had rescued by Rescue 1122 by taking her to hospital and thus saved her life.