| April 1, 2002 | Monday | Muharram 17, 1423 |
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Gujrat torture case
Karachi’s water woes
MERCIFULLY, the government has had the wisdom to review two highly unpopular and unjust decisions taken last week. First, it had decided to impose a general sales tax of 15 per cent on all drugs and medicines. Close on its heels, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority allowed Wapda to raise its tariff by 5.5 paisa per kw for all categories of consumers, except those who consumed less than 50 units or more than 1,000 units. These exemptions had brought the average down to 4.5 paisa per unit. The decisions were outrageous, the first one the most. Drugs and medicines are taken when people are in distress, and most ailments in this country are the result of poverty and caused by under-nourishment and contaminated drinking water. The low-income groups, relatively speaking, need medicines more than the other groups, yet the high prices of medicines are well out of their reach. The imposition of the GST on drugs and medicines, thus, constituted an attempt to tax those who are already in extreme distress and overburdened with taxes. Now the government has appointed an inter-ministerial committee to identify for exemption from the GST medicines which are life-saving.
The government claims that this tax was necessary for documentation purposes. Of course, the need for documentation of the pharmaceutical industry and trade is obvious. But this purpose can be well-served by levying a nominal tax of, say, one per cent across the board on all drugs and medicines. A nominal tax will serve the purpose of documentation without burdening those already in distress. Clearly, the retention of a 15 per cent GST on non-life-saving drugs will be inhuman and amount to denying the people health care, for which they themselves pay, because the government’s own ability to provide health facilities is limited.
As regards the decision to raise power tariff and then withdraw it a day later, one can only point out that this is not the first time this has happened. In brief, this goes to show the flaws in the process of decision making. Of course,there are various levels at which problems are taken up, pros and cons discussed, and decisions finalized. But in the case of the present set-up an unfortunate impression is gaining ground that decisions are taken and changed on an ad hoc basis because the statutorily laid-down process is not followed strictly. In the case of power tariff, Nepra is the final legal authority for the fixation of rates. It has been on record stating that Wapda’s losses are due substantially to the high incidence of theft and mismanagement. When it allows an increase in tariff on account of an increase in fuel prices without informing the people how much improvement in theft reduction has, in the meantime, been effected, it amounts to endorsing the status quo in respect of electricity theft. It was announced by Nepra that the rise was allowed to cover the increase in spending by Rs 1.2 billion on account of the rise in fuel price. This amount could also be recovered by reducing thefts by just one percentage point, because the loss of one unit of generation is said to cost Wapda about the same amount.
POVERTY and the state’s consistent failure to provide protection to even the most vulnerable of its citizens continue to take a heavy toll. The recent example in this regard is the Gujrat incident in which four young boys were tortured by the district Naib Nazim for allegedly picking his pocket. Another heinous aspect of the report is that the police caught and again handed over to the Naib Nazim one of the four boys who had somehow managed to escape from the torture cell where even dogs were let loose on them. How would the Nazim expect other people to abide by the law when he himself takes the law into his own hands by torturing the alleged pickpockets instead of following the due process?
The incident serves to emphasize the state’s failure on th social welfare sector. Areas of broader concern that have a direct impact on the welfare of children include education, healthcare for mother and infant, basic amenities such as safe drinking water, juvenile justice, and freedom from child labour and child abuse. Child labour, detention and trafficking in children pose some of the most potent threats to the young ones. A survey by the ILO and some local NGOs shows that at least 3.3 million children below the age of 14, in a total child population of 40 million, are engaged in labour. The Pakistan government has ratified the ILO Convention 182 against the worst form of child labour — slavery, sale, trafficking, bonded labour, involvement in pornography or prostitution, use in drug trade or hazardous works likely to endanger the health, safety and morals of the child. But it has either not framed proper laws or effectively implemented them. Surely, child as the father of man deserves a worthier dispensation in Pakistan.
SUMMER is here, and so is Karachi’s perennial water shortage, caused by a shortfall of 215 million gallons a day in water supply, and compounded by the inefficiency plaguing the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board. Barely a week into the summer, and the city is already facing an additional gap of 40-60 MGD between supply and demand owing to faults at the Dhabeji and Hub reservoir pumping stations. Such faults are a norm during the summer because of frequent power failures and extra pressures on the pumping stations as demand rises. An estimated 40 per cent of the total available 605 MGD goes waste because leakages in the pipelines are not plugged. Another five per cent is lost to theft.
According to the official KWSB figures, the demand for water in Karachi almost doubled between 1990 and 2000, going up from 490 MGD to 820 MGD. The gap between supply and demand also rose — from 140 MGD to 215 MGD for the corresponding period. This means that there has been a substantial increase in the waste of water through leakages. The KWSB’s infrastructure — its pumping equipment, distribution system and pipelines — are old and rustic. The obvious solution is to replace these. Once that is done there will possibly be no gap left in supply and demand, as things stand now. But that is not a permanent solution, as demand will continue to rise because of population growth. The city’s water sources — the Indus river, Hub dam, Dumlottee wells and the Haleji lake — have shown a considerable decline in their water levels over the past decade. Thus, the only long-term solution to Karachi’s water woes is a desalination plant. The city cannot continue to suffer the cruel water shortages it has been for too long. Now with the city district government in place, the matter should be taken up seriously, and funds made available to address this perennial problem. Going by the past experience, a warning is in order here: the desalination plant will cost us manifold its price today if we take ten years deciding to order it.