W ith the political tussle between Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) intensifying over the issue of election rigging, the fate of various projects, such as the metro bus service, in Punjab seem uncertain.

The campaigns of PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) of Dr Tahirul Qadri have forced the Punjab government to postpone the announcement of the metro bus project launch in Multan and stop the work in Rawalpindi. This may delay the Rs44.21 billion project.

PAT and the Punjab government are at loggerheads and sealing Lahore and other cities of the province will hinder the commencement of new projects.

If the political parties stage a sit-in in major cities of Punjab, including Rawalpindi, Multan, Lahore and Faisalabad, then it will be difficult for the government departments to launch or complete the major development projects.

On the other hand, PTI is ready to set out on its Azadi March on August 14 and, in case the government stops its rally from entering the federal capital, the political party will stage a sit-in in all major cities of Punjab.

“If the political parties stage a sit-in in major cities of Punjab, including Rawalpindi, Multan, Lahore and Faisalabad, then it will be difficult for the government departments to launch or complete the major development projects,” a senior government official feared.

“The government was supposed to announce the start of work on Multan’s metro bus project from August 14, but Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif refused to call meetings for the arrangements in this regard,” a senior government official of Punjab Metro Bus Authority told Dawn.

He said work on the metro train in Lahore had also slowed down due to political engagements of the chief minister. The situation would be clear after August 14 and the new projects would gain momentum, he claimed.

PML-N MNA Malik Abrar told Dawn that due to the political situation in the country, especially in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, development work will be affected.

He said work would be delayed, and in case of sit-ins and protest campaigns of political parties in the twin cities, it would definitely stop.

“Completion of work will most likely delay in case the political marches go ahead. It will create unrest in the country, especially Punjab,” he said.

The MNA said the PTI had failed to launch major projects in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and they were uneasy with the popularity of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, as they had worked day and night for the welfare of the people.

“After one year, they have started agitation against election rigging. They failed to get seats in the National Assembly, and also lost out to the PPP in the race of opposition leader.

“There will be no role of Imran Khan and his party in the constitution of the Election Commission in the next general elections which was why he was bent upon creating unrest in the country,” he said.

When contacted, PTI Punjab Vice President Raja Tariq Kiani said his party started agitation against election rigging after raising its voice at all available forums, but all hue and cry fell on deaf ears of the government and its allied political parties.

“The protest campaign never affected development work in Punjab. We never asked the contractors to stop work but the government engaged all officials against PTI and PAT workers. It is the government’s negligence that routine work of various departments had stopped. They were just focusing on preventing the protest campaigns instead of accepting the genuine demands of the opposition,” he said.

“We are against the metro bus project because PTI feels that the government should provide medicines to patients in hospitals and basic health units, clean drinking water, new dams and control inflation, instead of spending Rs60 billion on unnecessary projects which will not bring a socio-economic change in the country, especially Punjab,” he said.

“Why did they stop work on the projects? PTI’s protest will be in Islamabad in front of the Parliament and will not affect the development project on Murree Road in Rawalpindi, let alone Multan or Lahore. If we staged sit-in in other cities, event then it will not affect people’s movement.

“PTI did not want to waste public money on the ongoing development projects. It has no intention to allow people to pull down under-construction structures,” he said.

When contacted, Commissioner Rawalpindi and Project Director Metro Bus Project Zahid Saeed admitted that the political situation had affected work on development projects in the division, especially metro bus project for Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

He said contractors had been asked to continue work, but they had some reservations about the law and order situation in the coming days.

He said work had been affected since Eid after which it did not gain the desired momentum.

He said the project was launched on the main roads of twin cities and during the protest rallies work would have to stop.

He said the administrations of the twin cities made security arrangements, but such a situation was not favorable for smooth working.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2014