| March 15, 2002 | Friday | Zilhaj 30, 1422 |
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Another national monument?
Getting richer at the cost of the poor
Values of a raw society
New telemetry system
Shifting of HBFC office
Overcharging at toll plazas
Credit card chaos
Painting of electric poles
A matter of opinion
Old pensioners hardly cost much
Laws to protect women
Religious processions
ICP mutual funds
SOME important questions arise regarding urban planning and development. Besides the use of land for residential purposes, do our cities and towns provide the right kind of land for socio-economic development? Are our urban boundaries sprawling haphazardly or expanding in an orderly manner? Is there any need for re-organizing the city limits on account of the population pressure? What is the broad dimension and pattern of future requirements of urban land and with what implications?
These and a host of other related questions make it incumbent that a study of the existing land use patterns in our cities and towns be undertaken.
Land use pattern of a city or town is essentially a reflection of its economic and social form and structure. In view of the diversity in the economic and social structures of cities and towns, there are nearly as many patterns of land use and city layout as there are cities and towns. However, generally there seem to be several similarities in the pattern of land use in most cities and towns. This may be ascribed to the fact that the forces which lead to urbanization generally seem to be the same.
Cities and towns tend to have certain characteristics that smaller rural settlements do not have. For a proper understanding of the basic characteristics of cities and towns and for providing an insight into the maladjustment in the land use patterns of the cities and towns, it is useful to undertake a scientific study of the existing land use patterns of the cities and towns in the country.
The term ‘existing land use’ refers to the current utilization of land at a particular point of time. Here the term has been used strictly in the sense of utilization of urban land as it existed at the time of conducting the land use surveys for the purpose of preparing development plans in respect of the cities and towns. It, therefore, becomes extremely essential to carry out the existing use carefully to work out future land use proposals. The existing land use in other words means the pre-plan land use.
By and large, the urban land is classified broadly into such uses as: residential; commercial; industrial; parks and playgrounds; roads and streets; and vacant land.
It is suggested that the analysis of the existing land use be made on the basis of the above mentioned classification of urban land use. It is generally observed that the land contained within the municipal jurisdiction of cities and towns is not necessarily occupied wholly for urban use.
The bulk of the land, on the other hand is found to be occupied for agriculture and other rural activities. Such land under urban use or in which urban infrastructure have already been built comes under ‘developed land’ and land if utilized for agriculture or allied function comes under the category of ‘undeveloped land’.
SYED MOBIN AHMAD
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the letter ‘Another national monument’ by Mr Mohammad Iqbal (March 6).
I fully endorse the views expressed by the writer. How on earth can we afford to build the so-called ‘national monument’ in the current situation where the economy of the country is worse than ever and where we find ourselves at the mercy of international donors even for running our daily affairs?
I wonder how our leaders and bureaucrats could even think of spending the tax-payers’ money on such an extravagance. What benefit can the nation draw from the construction of a national monument when basic health facilities are lacking, when the literacy rate is much less than 50 per cent and a large part of the population does not have access to clean drinking water? We need nothing else but more and better hospitals, schools and roads.
DR MUNEEZA AAMIR SAMI
Karachi
DR Baligha Arif (March 5) grudges the recent increase in the emoluments and perks of the autocrats of this poor country. A de facto government has a very bright future of becoming de jure. It has inherent power to grab or snatch whatever it likes. Mr Ahsan Iqbal (March 6) has also flayed the raise in the salaries of the president and judges. He laments the elitist culture at the cost of the poor strata of society.
A glaring example of this mindset is the pension commutation of low-paid civil servants who retired some 15 years ago. They repaid their gratuity in full and hoped for the restoration of the surrendered portion of their meagre pensions. But the new pension rules have deprived them from what is otherwise their due. Their days are numbered and their number is thinning every day. They have not the means and energy for litigation. The finance ministry may, therefore, exempt them from the operation of the new rules.
ABDUR RASHID
Lahore
JOE Fisher, writing in South End, believes that the Muslims in America need to be de-programmed to adopt more productive values. By ‘productive’ he probably means success in the materialistic sense.
What this kind of blinkered thinking does to the moral and social fabric of a society, does not bother him in the least. The permissive society born out of the First Amendment has played havoc with the old values which sustain individuals and groups of people.
Family life as cherished and practised by the Muslims is non-existent in urban America. A veritable wasteland of drugs and delinquency, gun-toting school children, almost pre-teenage and pre-marital relations, post-marital liaisons, unwed mothers, single parents, multiple mothers/fathers, psychiatric clinics, old-age homes and anything else you can think of (celebrities announcing their wedding dates after the birth of their child). Is this what the ‘productive’ values lead to?
The near-nudity by the married (and the unmarried) in pubic places, leaving nothing to the imagination; a horde of roving-husbands hankering after the greener grass on the other side of the fence. On another level, it is said that the Americans have eliminated pornography from their society — by making it common, every day occurrence, in print (Penthouse) and on the tube (M-net).
Are these the productive values that Mr Fisher would have the Muslims adopt? Yes, there is much we can learn from the west — organization, discipline, work-ethics, civic sense and a lot more, but please do not talk of values of a yet very young and raw society. Rather, try and adopt the age old values of ancient civilizations and rich cultures, also found in many parts of middle America.
KHURSHID ANWER
Lahore
THIS is with reference to a news item regarding the installation of a new telemetry system for irrigation by the Indus River System Authority. Why is this authority interested in buying a complete new system which would be much costlier? What is needed is the extension of the existing system, which the Wapda is already using, and all this can be done at a much lower cost.
The disadvantages in using the new system are:
Annual fee of satellite link, which the government of Pakistan would have to pay in US dollars on yearly basis forever.
In case of link failure, no control over maintenance.
No expertise of satellite system available in the country.
In case of emergency situation, jamming of satellite by owner country.
The system will become a combination of various systems like satellite, vhf/hf, telephone leased lines, etc. So different types of trained manpower would be required.
On the other hand, if Wapda’s existing telemetry system is continued, the following would be the advantages:
Infrastructure is already available, which can accommodate new remote stations.
No annual fee.
Trained manpower i