Opposition leader says provincial government has failed to deliver tangible relief despite spending ‘billions of rupees’
Punjab Assembly (PA) Leader of Opposition Muhammad Moeen ud Din Riaz Qureshi addresses the floor of the House. Photo: Screengrab
Punjab Assembly (PA) Opposition Leader Muhammad Moeen ud Din Riaz Qureshi on Friday trashed the Rs 5.9 trillion provincial budget, accusing the government of prioritizing political branding over public welfare.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader lamented that the government allocated massive funds for new schemes and left previous projects incomplete.
He said authorities had failed to deliver tangible relief despite spending “billions of rupees” on development.
On the first day of the general debate on the budget in the PA, the opposition leader questioned the government’s development priorities, claiming that public money was being spent on publicity instead of solving fundamental problems facing citizens.
“There is no visible public welfare project in the budget. It only reflects the promotion of one political family,” Qureshi said, adding that despite huge allocations, people were still struggling with inflation, unemployment, poor education, deteriorating healthcare and law and order.
“The incomplete development projects have become a burden on the public.”
Referring to budget allocations, he demanded to know why new schemes had been allocated funds when the earlier allocated schemes in the financial year 2025-26 remained unfinished.
The Opposition Leader claimed that several mega projects received allocations last year but witnessed little or no utilization of the funds.
Qureshi claimed that Rs 300 billion was earmarked for major rural development projects, but “not a single rupee” had been spent.
He questioned the expenditure on the Data Darbar development project, saying only a fraction of the allocated funds were spent, and raised similar concerns over the expenditure on Nawaz Sharif Medical District, Nawaz Sharif Institute of Cancer, 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 Branding Budget” – a document crafted not for the welfare of the people but for the glorification of one family. The party highlighted the budget’s blatant violation…
— PTI (@PTIofficial) June 19, 2026
The PTI leader also criticized the naming of public projects after political personalities and said government-funded schemes should not be used for political branding.
He urged the government to de-politicize development projects and focus on completing ongoing schemes before launching new ones.
Speaking on the floor of the House, Qureshi proposed establishing an online parliamentary budget monitoring system that allows lawmakers to track allocations, expenditure and implementation status of development projects “in real time”.
The opposition leader also stressed that inflation had made life unbearable and people were struggling to afford two meals a day. He claimed that industries were closing down and workers were losing jobs.
The PTI-backed politician blamed the government’s economic policies for worsening conditions and alleged widespread corruption and mismanagement.
Addressing the members of the provincial assembly, Qureshi criticized the outsourcing of public schools, maintaining that it had harmed the education sector. He demanded the rationale behind giving advice to expensive education department offices while outsourcing schools.
He also accused the government of neglecting agriculture.
“Wheat was being imported despite the availability of domestic stocks, hurting the interests of farmers,” he lamented.
He also claimed that cotton growing areas were turned into “sugar mill zones”.
The opposition leader outlined further government issues, saying that flood management remained inadequate, sanitation infrastructure was deteriorating and rural development projects had not been realized despite large allocations.
On politics, Qureshi reiterated the PTI’s stance on the February 8 general elections, claiming that the public mandate had been rigged.
“PTI-backed candidates had won despite contesting without the party’s election symbol”, he said while accusing the government of politically victimizing PTI leaders.
He defended jailed PTI founder Imran Khan as well as other party members including Dr. Yasmin Rashid, Senator Ejaz Chaudhry and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, claiming that the cases against them were “politically motivated”.
Qureshi threatened that the PTI lawmakers would walk out of the assemblies if anything negative happened to the party’s founder, Imran. During the speech, PTI legislators also shouted 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 have not talked about the budget. We are not here to listen to these political speeches,” the minister said before announcing a government boycott of the meeting.
The opposition leader responded by claiming the government had fled because of criticism.
“They lack the patience to hear the opposition.”
Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker Malik Zaheer Iqbal Channar spoke out against the boycott, calling it “inconsistent with democratic traditions”.
He sent Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) parliamentary leader Ali Haider Gilani and other lawmakers to persuade the finance ministry members to return to the house.
After negotiations, finance lawmakers rejoined the assembly and the budget debate resumed.
