Past governments drowned the country in debt: PM Imran Khan

Past governments drowned the country in debt: PM Imran Khan

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Tuesday that past governments resorted to looting the country dry, drowning the country in debt. Instead of working for the betterment of the public, they chose to create wealth for themselves.

Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed these views while addressing the ground breaking ceremony of Ravi River Front Urban Development (RRFUD) project in Lahore. He said the RRFUD project is very ambitious and its completion will not be easy. There will be many obstacles along the way but we must persevere, he added.

The PM said Lahore is in dire need of this project as 40% of the city’s population lives in slums. No one has ever thought of the people living in those places because all decisions were made for a small, elite class.

He said the provision of clean water in Lahore is becoming increasingly difficult. All of Lahore’s sewage flows into the Ravi River which is increasing the risk of hepatitis due to rising amount of arsenic in the water.

Imran Khan said that during coronavirus crisis, I was advised to lock down the country like Italy and Spain, but when I asked what would happen to the people living in slums, no one had an answer. The elite ruling class was thinking only of themselves during the height of the pandemic.

Talking about criticism he receives for his slogan of ‘Naya Pakistan’, Imran Khan said that for the first time in Pakistan, health cards were distributed among the poor. No one ever thought of the homeless sleeping on the streets, we built multiple shelters across the country for them.

Earlier, the slogan of ‘roti, kapra, makan’ was mere lip service, but today, for the first time, affordable houses are being built for the poor. In addition, the Ehsaas program is the biggest relief program in the country’s history. Moreover, the Ravi River project reflects the vision of a new Pakistan.