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       LAHORE: The Maryam Nawaz administration has allocated Rs35 billion development budget ‘exclusively’ for the Lahore constituency of National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq.

       “On the instructions of (PML-N President) Nawaz Sharif and (Punjab Chief Minister) Mar--yam Nawaz, a budget of Rs35bn has been allocated for my constituency NA-120,” said Mr Sadiq while addressing party workers at his constituency here on Saturday.

       “Currently, development work worth Rs19bn is underway in my constituency. There were no roads or sewerage systems here before. Now sewerage will be installed, clean drinking water available, and roads built. No street in any area will be left behind, I assure. All streets will be paved,” he said while praising Maryam Nawaz.

       “The Maryam administration has allocated Rs70bn development budget for Lahore or all constituencies of the city in the first phase. In the second phase, a sum of another Rs70bn will be spent,” a senior official of the Punjab government disclosed while talking to Dawn on Saturday.

       Federal ministers Tarar and Aleem also using their good offices to secure funds from CM, party source says

       “Besides Mr Sadiq, federal minister Atta Tarar (who won from NA-127), Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP) head and federal minister Aleem Khan (who secured NA-117), PML-N financers Khokhar brothers — Saiful Maluk (also PML-N Lahore president) and Afzal Khokhar who bagged NA-126 and NA-125 seats, respectively, — are using their good offices to secure maximum funds from the CM for their constituencies,” a party source said.

       Mr Tarar, who won the seat against PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and PTI’s Zaheer Abbas Khokhar, is keen to contest future elections from the same NA-127 constituency, which previously belonged to late Pervaiz Malik, former PML-N Lahore president.

       The ruling party MNAs are not only seeking funds from the provincial government but also from the Shehbaz Sharif administration.

       When the PML-N lawmakers met the prime minister and asked for more funds for their constituencies, the latter advised them to increase interaction with their constituents and resolve their problems on a priority basis.

       While Nawaz, Shehbaz, Maryam and Hamza, all from the Sharif family, contested the 2024 elections from Lahore, the source said, this time around neither Nawaz nor Hamza was pressing the Punjab government for spending on their constituencies, considering the allocation of an equal amount of uplift fund to all Lahore constituencies happens to be pain in the neck of the provincial administration.

       Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2025