Prime Minister Imran Khan’s speech at the groundbreaking ceremony of Shelter home for passengers in Lahore was indeed very motivating for the public and the Chief Minister Punjab as well. Ex-PM Nawaz Sharif has also been doing the same in Lahore whenever he visited the province of Punjab which was being administered by his younger brother. He used to congratulate and give due credit to the younger Sharif for his contributions and ultimately the praise was translated into a new term, Punjab Speed and then Shehbaz Speed. This is how the system works, a leader endorses his junior chosen leaders and admires them, motivates them and make them equally sellable in their respective domains.
If this project alone goes successful, then the PTI government is off to a flying start after the completion of first hundred days. Anti-encroachment drives and filth being accumulated in the city both could be ignored if PTI government continues such mega initiatives of great public service. This definitely doesn’t mean, they don’t have to keep Lahore clean, they do but steps like these shall help retain and gain voters’ chunk which apparently look lost after a few U-turns and mismanaged administrative affairs.
No matter how incompetent the media portrays the current Chief Minister but his connection with the people and his understanding of the very basic issues of real ‘ordinary class’ shall actually help him gain popularity among masses which ex-CM Punjab enjoyed for a decade. However, building a shelter home for patients coming from far flung areas of Punjab doesn’t remove the responsibility off government’s shoulders to provide quality healthcare on their doorsteps. Government must initiate the health reforms that it had promised in its election manifesto and the role model province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s initiatives that were touted by PTI must be replicated in the region as soon as possible before people start comparing the system with previous regimes in Punjab.
