LAHORE, Jan 11: Apparently irked by a newspaper advertisement campaign launched by the PML-Q against mega projects of the Punjab government, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif says those criticising public-welfare projects now did no practical work during their own rule and just looted the national exchequer in the name of development projects.

Talking to the media after opening Rs500 million Model Town underpass here on Friday, he said: “The elements who are now criticising our projects were themselves involved in corruption during their tenure, but are now feeling pain as to why the Punjab government of the PML-N is expeditiously completing welfare-oriented projects for the common man.”

Lauding as great the metro bus project, he said it would soon be completed at a cost of Rs30 billion to provide the best traveling facilities to the citizens and that its opponents would be defeated.

The bus project, he said, would result in a significant change in the transport culture as the journey of hours would be covered in minutes. He said the underpass had also been completed in a record time.

Responding to a question about MQM Chief Altaf Husain’s statement on the Quaid-i-Azam, Shahbaz said no person could belittle the great personality of the Quaid who was revered and respected by the whole nation.

Referring to bomb blasts in Quetta and Swat and target killings in Karachi, he said he felt grief and sorrow at the martyrdom of innocent people in Balochistan, Swat and Karachi. — Staff Reporter