Opposition leader says provincial government failed to provide tangible help despite spending ‘billions of rupees’
Punjab Assembly (PA) Opposition Leader Muhammad Moeen ud Din Riaz Qureshi addressing the floor of the house. Photo: screenshot
Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly (PA) Muhammad Moeen ud Din Riaz Qureshi on Friday slammed the Rs 5.9 trillion provincial budget, accusing the government of prioritizing political image over public welfare.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader lamented that the government had allocated massive funds for new projects and left previous projects unfinished.
He said the authorities had failed to provide tangible assistance despite spending “billions of rupees” on development.
On the first day of the general budget debate in the Palestinian Authority, the opposition leader questioned the government’s development priorities, alleging that public money was being spent on advertising instead of solving the fundamental problems facing citizens.
“There is no public welfare project visible in the budget. It only reflects the promotion of a political family,” Qureshi said, adding that despite huge allocations, the people were still grappling with inflation, unemployment, poor education, deteriorating health care and law and order.
“Unfinished development projects have become a burden on the public. »
Referring to budgetary allocations, he asked why new programs had received funds while previous programs, which allocated funds in the 2025-26 financial year, remained unfinished.
The opposition leader said several mega projects received allocations last year but the funds were little or not used.
Qureshi claimed that Rs 300 billion was earmarked for mega rural development projects, but “not a single rupee” had been spent.
Questioning the expenditure on the Data Darbar development project, he said only a fraction of the allocated funds had been utilized and raised similar concerns over the expenditure on Nawaz Sharif Medical District, Nawaz Sharif Cancer Institute, Maryam Nawaz Sports Complex and Maryam Nawaz Health Clinics.
Finally, the PTI categorically rejected the Punjab budget presented by the provincial government as a shameless “Sharif-branded budget” – a document designed not for the welfare of the people but for the glorification of a family. The party highlighted the blatant violation of the budget…
– PTI (@PTIofficial) June 19, 2026
The PTI leader also criticized public projects being named after political figures, saying state-funded programs should not be used for political purposes.
He urged the government to depoliticize development projects and focus on completing ongoing projects before launching new ones.
Speaking in the House, Qureshi proposed establishing an online parliamentary budget tracking system to enable lawmakers to track allocations, expenditure and implementation status of development projects “in real time”.
The opposition leader also pointed out that inflation had made life unbearable and people were struggling to afford two meals a day. He said industries were closing and workers were losing their jobs.
The PTI-backed politician blamed the deteriorating conditions on the government’s economic policies and alleged widespread corruption and mismanagement.
Addressing members of the provincial assembly, Qureshi criticized the outsourcing of public schools, saying it had damaged the education sector. He questioned why it was necessary to fund expensive Department of Education offices while outsourcing schools.
He further accused the government of neglecting agriculture.
“Wheat was imported despite the availability of national stocks, which harmed the interests of farmers,” he lamented.
He also claimed that cotton-producing regions were being converted into “sugar zones”.
Highlighting other governance issues, the opposition leader said flood management remained inadequate, health infrastructure was deteriorating and rural development projects had failed to materialize despite large allocations.
Turning to politics, Qureshi reiterated PTI’s stand on the February 8 general elections, alleging that the public mandate was manipulated.
“PTI-backed candidates won despite participating without the party’s electoral symbol,” he said, while accusing the government of politically victimizing PTI leaders.
He defended PTI founder Imran Khan and other party members including Dr Yasmin Rashid, Senator Ejaz Chaudhry and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, saying the cases against them were “politically motivated”.
Qureshi threatened that PTI legislators would resign from assemblies if anything unfavorable happened to party founder Imran. During the speech, PTI lawmakers also chanted slogans in support of the PTI founder.
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Punjab Finance Minister Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman objected to the opposition leader’s speech.
“You did not talk about the budget. We are not here to listen to these political speeches,” declared the minister before announcing the government’s boycott of the session.
The opposition leader responded by saying the government had escaped criticism.
“They don’t have the patience to hear the opposition.”
Meanwhile, Vice President Malik Zaheer Iqbal Channar spoke out against the boycott and called it “incompatible with democratic traditions”.
He sent Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) parliamentary leader Ali Haider Gilani and other lawmakers to persuade Treasury members to return to the House.
After the negotiations, Treasury lawmakers rejoined the assembly and the budget debate resumed.
