| March 31, 2002 | Sunday | Muharram 16, 1423 |
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Utility bill payments
Why this strike?
AMIDST allegations of pre-poll rigging, the Chief Election Commissioner on Tuesday announced the delimitation of constituencies across the country. An important task for holding the general elections in October has thus been accomplished. It had been necessitated by the 1998 census and the increase in the population. The 60 seats reserved for women and 25 for technocrats will be filled on the basis of proportional representation with one province as a constituency. All urban centres have registered a significant increase in their share of representation in parliament. Seats of many districts, including the tribal areas, have also been increased.
On the face of it, the methodology adopted was meant to ensure that the demographic factor was fully reflected in carving up the constituencies. The share of a district has been determined by dividing its population with the quota per assembly seat. Other guiding principles included the distribution of population in geographically compact areas, the existing boundaries of administrative units, communication and public convenience and other cognate factors to ensure homogeneity in the creation of constituencies. Districts have been generally allocated a composite number of seats. However, in a few cases the excess of population of two adjoining districts has been combined to form an inter-district constituency to avoid glaring disparities in the population of constituencies. Thus, some smaller districts have benefited in terms of share of seats resulting from the clubbing together and bifurcation of some areas.
Narowal, for instance, will now have three seats instead of two. Gujrat, which earlier had two NA seats, now has four. Some parts of Khushab which were earlier part of Sargodha have been converted into an independent constituency, raising its seats from one to two. Sukkur and Ghotki in Sindh will have two NA seats each against their earlier collective share of three. At the same time, the seats of some districts have not increased because no change has been effected in their representation. But the importance of several backward areas in terms of representation has definitely increased. Even in the major urban centres, because of a rapid increase in population, some constituencies had become too large and unwieldy for legislators to represent them effectively. There is no doubt that the compactness in size of constituencies, which was one of the purposes of the delimitation, should increase the chances of people having a greater voice in the elective institutions.
Delimitation is a delicate and ticklish task, given the overlapping interests of caste, biradari, language and religion involved in the reallocation of seats. Moreover, political parties and personalities had come to develop stakes in certain areas because of their long years of identification with them. Any change or readjustment in the boundaries of seats can, therefore, affect the political fortunes of important figures. Already, there are allegations that some constituencies have been sub-divided with the intent to break the hold of certain politicians. One hopes that suspicions in certain quarters about manipulation and gerrymandering are without any basis whatsoever, particularly as it was the duty of the election commission to ensure that no mala fide conduct was involved in the whole exercise. Nevertheless, questions about the fairness and independence of delimitation seem to be unavoidable in the context of Pakistan’s polarized political landscape. Since delimitation will have a decisive impact on the election results, it is absolutely necessary that the election commission patiently consider all representations for amendments and modifications in the preliminary reallocation of seats and take all possible steps to remove suspicions and reservations in this regard so as to facilitate the holding of fair and transparent elections.
IT is a relief to note that the government is at last seriously considering simplifying the procedure for the payment of utility bills. This was revealed by the Federal Law Minister, Dr Khalid Ranjha, while he was presiding over the first meeting of the sub-committee on utility services in Islamabad. At present, paying utility bills is a headache for the common man. On average, he receives in a given month bills for gas, electricity, telephone, and, occasionally, for water and property tax according to no fixed schedule. All these bills have different due dates and are to be paid at certain designated branches of different banks all over the town. For people who do not have a driver or errand boy this is a cumbersome task, for they have to take time off from work several times a month to join the long queue at the banks, sometimes without the benefit of some shade. In addition, some of the bills have their due dates near the end of the month when family budgets normally dry up.
Hopefully, the government will be able to come up with a much more convenient system of payment than the one that torments the people at present. For instance, why cannot payments be made by cheques, as is done in developed countries? Also, many countries employ the giro system, whereby money for bills is automatically deducted from the consumer’s bank account. However, making this work smoothly here may have its problems, given the fact that many consumers do not have bank accounts. Often, consumers find their bills incorrect or inflated. In that case, they would have to go through the near impossible task of recovering the money overpaid or expecting the utility companies to adjust it in the next bill. One hopes the government will take all these points into consideration before devising a system whose basic aim should be convenience for the consumers.
SATURDAY’S strike by Karachi transporters was for reasons that cannot be justified under any circumstance. The transporters are angry with the government for registering a murder case against the driver and the owner of a bus following an accident on Mar 19 in which the bus crushed to death two college students and a motorcyclist. The main transporters’ body, the Karachi Transport Ittehad, vehemently disagrees with this action, saying that the owner is not culpable and that, at best, the driver should be charged not with murder but under the Qisas and Diyat Ordinance. One would also like to take issue with the KTI’s stand that a Nazim, non-governmental organizations or civic groups have nothing to do with the issue and should stay out of it. On the contrary, the Nazim, i.e. the mayor, is concerned with everything that affects the people of Karachi. The buses and minibuses affect millions of people daily — even those who do not use them, like pedestrians and motorists — and as the citizens’ representative the mayor has to concern himself with public transport operations.
Yes, if it weren’t for the buses millions of commuters would not be able to get to work. But it is equally true that if it weren’t for the buses Karachi’s roads would be much safer, and smoke-free. One would have to agree with the public perception that some sections of transporters have become a law unto themselves and that the authorities react only when something as serious as the Karimabad tragedy happens. Without going into the legal intricacies, one would say that the government should sort out this issue in a fair and equitable. At the present, both sides seem to be taking extreme positions. The transporters insist that since the brakes failed it really is nobody’s fault, while the government seems to think that the driver, as well as the owner, of the bus intentionally killed the pedestrians. From the point of view of the citizens, the issue is road safety. It is this issue that both should address.