LAHORE, March 16: Opposition leader in Punjab Assembly Raja Riaz was uncharacteristically incisive on Wednesday as he listed ‘failings’ of the PML-N government. He said: “Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif does not tire of harping on merit in all appointments. But it did not apply to his brother-in-law, Liaquat Durrani, brother of Tehmina Durrani, who has been hired chief of Punjab Cooperative Bank against a hefty salary of Rs500,000 a month.”

He said the PML-N must realise that the PPP, as a coalition partner, was an insider and knew “each and every wrong” done by the Punjab government and stood committed to exposing them all.

“We know for whom an overhead bridge connecting Gulberg-DHA was built. We also know for whom billions of rupees are being invested on M.M.

Alam Road and why so many underpasses are being planned in Gulberg. I have a list of friends and relatives of the CM for whom money is being spent and anyone needing the list can come to me.”

The province, he said, was being ruined. “The doctors are up in arms but there is no health minister to look into their problems. Thousands of students have not received their roll number slips for matriculation examination but there is no education minister.

“All the development work in the province has come to a halt and there is no minister for communication and works (C&W) to kick start development. Employees of some of the provincial departments have not received salaries for more than six months because there is no money.

Who should be held responsible for this state of affairs?”

The superior courts, he said, had been ordering reversal of shoulder promotions but the Punjab government was not following the order despite its professed claims of “having huge respect for courts.” There were 890 officers in Punjab, who were working in higher grades, and the Punjab government was not ready to do anything about them.

“If this is the respect the Punjab government has for courts, how much betterment could be expected from it,” he said.

He further said the chief minister after his election had promised to convert the newly-built CM Secretariat into an information technology (IT) university. Instead it had become a lota (turncoat) manufacturing place.

He accused Khwaja Hassaan, a PML-N member, of patronising turncoats.

The PPP had been cast into a role (of opposition) that it always loved to play, he said.