Recently, while addressing a meeting of a representative delegation of the traders organisations at Lahore, Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif reviewed in detail the progress made on the ongoing campaign against encroachments in the city. The positive results of the latest anti-encroachment drive in the provincial metropolis constitute an amazing success story, which must be analysed to apply it in the other areas of administration. The mushroom growth of encroachments in the city over the past many decades is extremely mind-boggling. Successive provincial governments have paid little attention to this sensitive issue, which had assumed high stake political proportions, rather than administrative clean-up operations. The challenges of this nature demand a daring leadership with a firm resolve, and backed by a transparent policy, to deliver what is for the good of the people. Surely, there are risks involved, but ultimately one is bound to win. Thus, Shahbaz Sharif accepted the challenge and proved that where there is a will, there is always a way. The results achieved by this anti-encroachment drive are an eye-opener. Due to this great initiative, land worth billions of rupees has been recovered. This campaign was planned and implemented by a dedicated team of officers, who collectively managed to successfully earn the support and cooperation of people from all walks of life. Meanwhile, the Chief Minister backed his team throughout the campaign - all the way from the commencement of the drive to the finishing point unaffected by political and even his own partys direct or indirect pressure in maintaining his transparent policy. Shahbaz did not even spare the illegal occupants of the housing schemes allocated for government employees, or the staff of the Estate Management Directorate of LDA. During the 34-day operation, the anti-encroachment team demolished hundred of illegal constructions and shifted scores of truckloads of encroached items to the warehouses. The historic achievement of this drive was the acquiring of state property, the total cost of which is likely to run into billions of rupees. Hopefully, it will now be utilised in the best interest of the public. The Chief Minister has announced that a state-of-the-art Liver Transplant and Institute of Urology will be established. This will benefit not only the suffering patients in the city of Lahore, but provide the latest treatment of liver and kidney diseases to the people of Punjab and other provinces. In the absence of such facilities, those who could afford had to take a trip either to the West. While the deprived section of the society suffered in silence. Hopefully, when this project of a modern liver transplant and urology centre is completed, the people at large will greatly benefit from the much needed facilities. Needless to say, such basic facilities in the social sector constitute the cornerstone of good governance. But one wonders why is it that successive governments over the past many decades have paid little attention towards the health and education sectors? The civilian administrations have always and conveniently shifted the responsibility towards the repeated military interventions. But without denying the negative impact of martial law regimes, it would be unfair on the part of the democratic governments not to accept their share of responsibility as well as failure to provide good governance to the people. During the past three years the Punjab Chief Minister has made serious attempts to act as Khadam-i-Punjab by introducing revolutionary reforms in the education and health sectors, in addition to other development projects. The positive results yielded from the recent anti-encroachment drive in Lahore is the latest endeavour in this sector, and it is hoped that he follows the same in other major cities of the Punjab. n The writer is the President of the Pakistan National Forum.