Just few years after the formation of Pakistan, governments were formed in all provinces and from then
on started a healthy competition between them all. Every province has always tried to win the
appreciation by performing better than other governments. Due to this, there have been plenty of
developments in all four provinces but the one that always manages to prove their efficiency is the
Government of Punjab.
The political party which heads the office in Punjab is the Pakistan Muslim League (N) which is a party as
old as the country itself. The party, headed by Muhammad Nawaz Sharif also the ex-prime minister of
Pakistan for three times, has indeed undertaken a lot of infrastructural developments in the province.
The Motorway project connecting Lahore and Islamabad has been a breakthrough in transportation
system and has facilitated both to trade and ease of movement.
One major sector which determines the performance of a province is the education sector. Investing in
education sector is necessary for the long term results and to make sure that growth is sustainable. In
this area, Punjab has received the highest priority. The total spending on education sector has increased
by 900 percent in the last 5 years which is a good enough indicator for the effort that Punjab
Government done for the public. Investment has not just been done in terms of the money being put
forward but also the quality of education has improved. Institutions like LUMS, NUST and FAST are
considered to be the top universities of the country and compete with the international standard of
education.
The health sector has also seen improvements with a lot of medical colleges being opened. Hospitals
have also been built like the 400 bed hospital in Bahawalpur and Shahdara. The machines are all stateof-the-art
facilities and treat with the latest procedures. Overall, the spending has increased by 550
percent in this sector.
There has been criticism on the government saying that it only focuses on Lahore. Now, this may be true
to some extent but that does not mean they haven’t done anything in other areas. There have been a lot
of improvements in the farming sector where people are provided with trucks at subsidized rates, dams
are built along with irrigation canals and the rights of the farmers are protected against the powerful
landlords.
Other provinces are also working towards achieving some development goals but aren’t as motivated as
the Punjab Government. Recently, when PTI won majority votes in KPK and took the office, a lot has
been happening there as well. The police system has been revolutionized along with changes in the
education sector. It looks like KPK is also moving towards a developed province but still; Punjab
Government has achieved just too much and therefore wins this very comparison. Even though the
political situation of the country is uncertain these days but we hope that the provincial government will
continue their pace of activities for the betterment of people.
