LAHORE: Punjab Minister for Information and Culture Azma Bokhari has challenged political leaders from Gujrat to explain their own record after they turned their criticism toward Lahore. Those who occupied senior public offices for years without transforming their home district now express discomfort as the provincial capital’s development approach reaches other areas.
Bokhari shared a video of MNA Hussain Elahi on social media while posing a direct question. What concrete steps, she asked, did individuals who served as deputy prime minister, chief minister of Punjab, speaker of the Punjab Assembly, and ministers at federal and provincial levels take for Gujrat? She insisted they answer for their performance first.
The minister linked the criticism to the scale of work underway under Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif. Public service programmes across the province have unsettled certain political quarters, she said. Voters have repeatedly backed this model of delivery in successive by-elections, yet some figures continue to reject the outcome.
In a first for the province, the Maryam Nawaz administration has allocated Rs12 billion in development funds for Gujrat. The sum has financed the start of dozens of schemes. Among them is a large sewerage project designed to tackle chronic drainage problems that residents of the city have long endured.
Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif also recently launched the Rs9.8 billion Gujrat-Sargodha Road project. The scheme covers construction and rehabilitation of 94.30 kilometres of road. A further 27.90-kilometre stretch in Mandi Bahauddin is being converted into a dual carriageway to improve connectivity and traffic flow.
Bokhari drew a sharp contrast with the previous period. During Pervez Elahi’s tenure, several projects earmarked for Gujrat existed only on paper. Funds were released in advance, yet the works never appeared on the ground. The minister described the situation as one in which the schemes seemed to be built somewhere in outer space.
She noted that numerous accounts exist concerning the family of her political opponents. Complete details could be made public whenever required, she added.
From the perspective of Lahore, the developments mark a deliberate extension of proven infrastructure gains beyond the provincial capital. Residents here have consistently supported policies that channel resources to other districts rather than concentrating them in one city. Equitable investment, local observers argue, strengthens Punjab as a whole and contributes to broader national stability.
The allocation arrives against a backdrop of recent political exchanges. Earlier criticism from figures associated with the Elahi family had alleged that Lahore received disproportionate attention while other areas were sidelined. The current figures on funding and project launches provide a factual counter to those claims, according to government sources.
Officials familiar with the road project say the upgrades will reduce travel times between Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin and Sargodha while supporting local commerce and access to services. The sewerage scheme, once completed, is expected to limit urban flooding during monsoon seasons, a recurring hardship in parts of the city.
Political analysts in Lahore note that the by-election results cited by Bokhari reflect a pattern in which performance on service delivery has outweighed traditional influence in several constituencies. The government has framed the Gujrat package as evidence that this approach applies uniformly, regardless of past political control of any district.
The minister’s remarks also revive earlier debates over accountability for unfinished schemes. Records from the Elahi period show allocations that did not match completed works, a point administration spokespeople have raised in previous exchanges. The present focus remains on visible progress rather than announcements alone.
As implementation proceeds, attention will turn to timelines for the sewerage and road projects. Provincial authorities have indicated that monitoring mechanisms used elsewhere in Punjab, including direct oversight by the chief minister’s office, will apply to the Gujrat initiatives to ensure funds translate into completed infrastructure.
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