LAHORE – Senior Punjab Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb has defended the Punjab government’s decision to upgrade its official aircraft, saying it is meant to improve public service delivery rather than serve personal interests.
Speaking in the Punjab Assembly, Aurangzeb confirmed that the provincial government had upgraded an aircraft that had long been part of its fleet. She rejected criticism over the move, saying Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz uses the aircraft to visit multiple districts in a single day, particularly during emergencies such as floods.
“We do not use helicopters for personal convenience. The aircraft has been upgraded to serve the people of Punjab,” she said, adding that the chief minister regularly travels to districts including Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalpur, Multan and Sialkot to oversee relief and development work.
Highlighting the government’s performance, Aurangzeb said the “Suthra Punjab” initiative had removed more than 20 million tonnes of waste from urban and rural areas across the province. She claimed that under the previous system, Rs48 billion was spent to clean only eight cities, whereas the first phase of the new programme is cleaning the entire province at a cost of Rs72 billion. She added that the initiative has been recognised by international media as a flagship programme.
The minister said the government aims to further improve sanitation services by the next Eid and highlighted the expansion of Punjab’s electric bus network. She said electric buses are now operating in every district, with free travel available for persons with disabilities, women, students and senior citizens. The provincial government plans to increase the fleet to 3,000 electric buses by June 2027 and eventually expand it to 5,000 buses during its next term.
Aurangzeb also said the Gujranwala Metro project has begun operations and is expected to be completed by June next year.
Referring to the government’s housing programme, she claimed that Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz had provided 170,000 homes in the past 14 months, with 150,000 families already shifted into their new houses. She said another 300,000 homes would be completed by June 2027.
The minister further stated that the Punjab government has provided free medicines worth Rs20 billion to the public, saying the previous provincial administration had discontinued the free medicine programme.
