It is said if you are not criticised, you might not be doing much that makes a difference. This phrase suits the present performance of the PTI government. Since the PTI emerged as the largest political party in 2018 general elections with the narrative of a corruption-free Pakistan, it faced severe criticism for not being able to deliver. Despite going extra miles to achieve the goal by launching hundreds of public welfare projects, its performance is still considered zero. Let’s discuss how the narrative of an inefficient government was built. The media had helped the party to build a national consensus on performance in 2018; it is now building a perspective of an inefficient government who fails in its own manifesto.

It all started when the government issued its first 100-day performance report. Since then, the PTI government has been under fire for not fulfilling its promises made in 2018. The majority of the PTI supporters are now questioning: “What the PTI government has done so far for the general public except talking against the opponents and dragging them to courts in corruption cases.”

The PTI started many mega projects, some of them are completed while the others under progress. But what we have to do with this information if it is not disseminated in public. The PTI government’s core focus was on the development of projects rather than their publicity. Unlike the previous government who spent billions of rupees on the publicity even in some of the projects the publicity budget was more than the allocated budget of projects. Some of the landmark projects like health insurance cards, establishment of new hospitals and universities, equitable development in every region of the province, kamyabjawaan program and many more are hidden from public eye. The major change came when Prime Minister immediately suspended the budget released for publicity and ordered to utilise that capital for the welfare of public. Amid all this denunciation came another backlash when Lahore Waste Management Company terminated the contracts of Turkish Companies Ozpak an Albayrak and seized their machinery. The campaign started against Lahore Waste Management Company and was held responsible for not being able to maintain the cleanliness of Lahore as was before in previous government’s regime which is true to my experience. Hence came the Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar who saved the sailing boat of LWMC by announcing a new program “Khidmat Apki Dehleez Par”. This program has been started yesterday 27th May with all the directions passed to the district and divisional official force to make it a success story for the other provinces to follow.

According to the details received Government of Punjab has given its first three weeks plan under the banner of “Khidmt Apki Dehleez par” which included the campaigns regarding the hottest debate of cleanliness and beautification of the province. CM Punjab announced to dedicate three weeks for the cleanliness and beautification of whole province. The departments all over Punjab will take part in this drive by utilizing their resources as much as possible. First week is dedicated to the cleanliness; where strict measures will be taken for the garbage disposal, dumping the solid waste, repairing of street lights and walk chalking. During the second week named as Drainage week: the drainage of sewerage, drains, manholes and cleanliness of public toilets will be done. During the third week cleanliness of government buildings will be ensured. Government of the Punjab has also launched “Khidmat Apki Dehleez Par” mobile application to monitor the performance of government officials and to make this campaign citizen centric. 

Uzma Rubab

-The writer is an Information Officer at 

Directorate General Public Relations (DGPR).